Kizu (A Cottage by the River)
by Octavia Brown
Summary: Several years after the devastating Fourth Great Shinobi War, Sakura is all grown up. No longer a child, she has changed and possibly not for the better. Out in contested territory she comes across someone she thought she might never see again - and that man is clearly not the boy he once was. (Cover image by DeviantArt user "Asterisks." She's amazing!)
1. Chapter 1

傷 Kizu

Sakura lay still on her belly as her heart froze in her chest. From her hidden spot under a bush she watched a scene she never in wildest dreams expected to see. Her eyes were wide and jaw hung open in sheer surprise.

A shinobi - from Iwa from the look of his uniform - held a hand sign for a genjutsu and concentrated on the man in front of him. "You were a Konoha ninja once. All Uchiha knew how to enter and leave the city undetected. You will tell me the secret."

Sakura tried to swallow but found her mouth was dry. Before the Iwa shinobi stood Sasuke Uchiha.

He had changed a bit - he now wore the simple kimono and breeches of a commoner, no sign of weapons or armor - but he was undeniably her old teammate. Sasuke was taller than the other shinobi, with solid shoulders showing off a man in his prime. He stared back in the direction of the other ninja, eyes unseeing. One arm was raised and lightning lanced around it, cascading down his arm. He had been about to create a chidori but the genjutsu caught him first and left the chakra sparking in a continuous loop.

Sakura could see his eyes were black. Strange that he would not have his Sharingan activated, but it would explain how he got caught. Still, the lightning arcing over his hand and low groans were testament to his fight against the genjutsu. It took a moment before Sakura realized Sasuke wasn't even carrying a thigh pouch. If it weren't for the chidori a stranger might be excused from assuming he was farmer or some other laborer.

Sakura frowned and made a fist in the dirt. She had been ordered to the border with the Land of Earth to look into possible reports of incursion from Iwa ninja. The border here was porous and disputed so she was only to monitor any activity she found while the talking heads worked on a diplomatic resolution.

Traditionally the border was along a river that snaked through the region but over the last few months disputes had grown over trade routes, specific plots of territory and so on. The river in question ran a few dozen feet behind Sasuke.

Specifically, she had been ordered to investigate rumors of ninja harassing villagers and claiming the area was under the control of Land of Earth. She had known she may witness "activity" that would challenge her commitment to her observation mission, but she could never have imagined that _here,_ after being missing for as long as he had lived in the village, would she find her genin teammate, Sasuke Uchiha.

"Come on, now. Don't be stubborn," growled the Iwa shinobi. "It's not like you have any allegiance left to Konoha, even holding onto Uchiha secrets would be pointless for you. Iwa can give you whatever you want..."

Sakura studied her options. She could paralyze the Iwa ninja and then release Sasuke from the genjutsu. There was even a very slight possibility that she could do it and get away before either one saw her. But the chances were then quite high that Sasuke would just kill the other man. If Iwa wanted a case against Konoha's diplomatic efforts, they would have a very good one. She bit her lip. A genjutsu? Very tricky on anyone clever enough to catch an Uchiha and if it missed by even a hair she would be left exposed.

Sakura grunted. Here she was, 12 years since she had last called him a teammate and eight years since he had been poised to kill her on a bridge in the Land of Iron, and her instinct was still to protect him. The proper thing to do was simply announce herself to the Iwa shinobi and declare Sasuke the sole concern of Konoha. She could just thank him for capturing him and then make off with him.

Of course, the Iwa would never allow something like that and Sakura would be looking at a fight, most likely, in direct violation of her orders. And that was ignoring just how she was supposed to get around the lightning chakra that Sasuke was still exuding.

Sakura sucked in a breath and prepared to stand. She at least owed Naruto the attempt.

Her senses twinged and she was on her feet parrying shuriken with a kunai before she realized it.

Another Iwa leapt into view and she vaulted back into the clearing where the first Iwa shinobi remained with Sasuke. She took the opportunity to flip into a position where she could stand parallel with Sasuke and face both Iwa at the same time.

The ninja who had attacked her stood ready to leap on her again. He was much younger than the man who had the genjutsu on Sasuke. "I thought you said this one was a rogue, Kishi! He had a partner in the bushes getting ready to jump you!"

The older shinobi looked hard at Sakura and scoffed. "You really are young. You don't recognize her do you? Pink hair, the same age the Hokage... You're Sakura Haruno, aren't you?" Dark gray eyes glittered under an Iwa headband. "Have you been hunting Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sakura breathed shallowly. She hated having to talk at the same time that she gathered her chakra for fighting. Worse, she knew the shinobi - Kishi - only wanted to catch her off-guard before attacking. "This is disputed territory. There is no need to spill blood for it. Let me-"

The older man's eyes narrowed but the younger man spoke first. "What? No way! This is Earth territory, and Fire has to learn to stay out of it!"

The Kishi tsked. Sakura had to agree. This was not the time or place to argue geopolitics.

"I will take Sasuke back to Konoha. You will not see either of us-"

"No damned way!" The younger man quite ignored his senior's shout to stand down and issued a fireball at Sakura.

She easily somersaulted out of the way. The young man gave chase as she pulled out a kunai to meet him.

"No, don't!" cried Kishi.

But the young man ran headlong and triggered two of Sakura's exploding tags that she had left in the wake of her vaults away from the fireball. He was thrown sky high and then collapsed in a heap.

"TOSHI!" The man turned to face Sakura fully. He snarled at her. "I heard you were trained by the slug queen. Too bad! No matter what you learned from her, you are going down!"

Kishi shimmered out of view. Sakura had to work to track him as he glimmered in and out of sight in the small field. If she hoped he might step on more of her tags, she was disappointed.

Out of a blind spot came a volley of kunai and shuriken that she frantically parried and dodged. She took a step forward only to find the earth under her feet had turned to rapidly sifting sand and she was sinking with it. She barely managed to block a sword strike as her knees sank out of sight.

In the space of the clang from steel meeting steel Sakura readjusted her view of what was going on. She was not really sinking into quicksand and she was not really fighting Kishi, blade against blade. In fact, it was her turn. She slammed a palm down on the ground, sending chakra to a jutsu she had prepared a few seconds earlier.

Closer to Sasuke, Kishi, the real Kishi, reeled. "How did you...? A genjutsu type, eh?" He stared at the mound of earth that began to rise out of the ground. "But that's the real thing. Damn."

The mound of earth took a humanoid shape, a golem, in this case a golem covered in exploding tags. It charged for Kishi and swiped at him.

Kishi turned to run, only to find Sakura had cut off his escape. He bobbed and weaved as Sakura jabbed at him and he threw himself to the side. "Damn all you Konoha ninja! Die!" He threw kunai with exploding tags toward Sakura and she had to take a moment to dodge them. In the meantime he fled into the trees.

Sakura gave chase and once they were at a slight distance from Sasuke she hammered the earth with her raw chakra. It drove fissures into the ground, tripping Kishi as he tried to get away. The golem easily caught him in heavy arm swipe and threw him toward the center of the field.

Sakura could tell he had broken a couple ribs but wasn't done yet. Without giving him a chance to ready another jutsu she got right in front of him and blasted her fist into his belly. It socked all of the wind out of Kishi as he flew straight back into the golem's arms.

"That was for disrespecting Lady Tsunade! And this is for trying to kill me and take out Konoha!" Sakura called on her chakra to activate the tags on the golem's body. She threw herself to the ground as the golem exploded, taking the Iwa shinobi with it.

She picked herself up and sighed. There was no hiding the fact that a shinobi battle had taken place here. She dusted off her pants and wiped her face, feeling grime everywhere. Despite being able to control most of the battle her pants had gotten singed in at least one of the blasts.

How the hell was she going to explain ignoring her orders to Kakashi? Even if she managed to bring Sasuke back this was going to be headache for the jonin council as they dealt with the often rude and difficult to understand Iwa delegation. Well, she would have to leave it Naruto to get everyone back to friendly terms. He, at least, would understand.

So then, Sasuke.

She looked back to where he had been standing, half afraid that as soon as the genjutsu left him he would have disappeared.

But no, he was still standing there, arm half raised and lightning dancing in his hand. He wasn't groaning anymore, presumably because Kishi was no longer trying to force him to speak against his will. But he still stared off in the distance, blind to the field around him. Sakura pressed her lips together. It would be a complicated genjutsu that didn't die when its user did.

Sakura stood a foot away from Sasuke, not daring to come closer just yet. She studied him, heart in her mouth. The last time they had stood physically close he seemed a little taller than her, although such a thing was difficult to judge when he was trying to kill her (to be fair, that was only after she had made a miserable attempt on his life). Now...he could easily rest his chin on her head if he wanted. He wasn't as broad-chested as Naruto, but the way his rough kimono fell on him, there was definitely a lot of muscle under it.

Sakura shook her head. Of course the prettiest boy in her class would grow up to become a beautiful man.

For a moment she wanted to curse, or maybe spit. A wave of revulsion hit her almost viscerally. When he had first left she spent a long time openly wondering why. Over time that wondering had turned to fury, especially after the war. And now her ire had burned out any curiosity. For just a second it didn't matter why he had left or what he had done to her. All that mattered was anger.

She hissed at him like a furious territorial cat. She let a fantasy play out in her head where she cut his throat where he stood.

And that was that.

Cold washed over her, leaving her shaking. _This was Sasuke Uchiha._ When she was 16 she had harbored fantasies similar to that one. It had been a fantasy to replace the childish daydream of one day kissing him. But she couldn't follow through then and she probably couldn't do it now. Her feelings were tumultuous to say the least. Maybe she loved him or maybe she hated him, but the feeling was thorough and unrelenting.

Perhaps she could kill him. But she couldn't say the same for kissing him. It would be that even at his most defenseless Sasuke would end up having a lightning field around him.

Sakura put her fantasies away. Hard practicality reminded her that she had engaged two Iwa shinobi, and killed at least one. If she didn't want to get charged with gross misconduct, bringing Sasuke back alive was the only way she might earn any leniency. Hell, if it weren't for Naruto being Hokage it might have turned out that Konoha would have executed Sasuke anyway.

"YOU!"

Sakura whipped around at the hissing behind her. The younger Iwa ninja, Toshi, barely stood up. He had found a long stick that lookd like a fallen branch to lean on. His clothing was all rags, singed and drenched in blood. His skin fared much the same.

Sakura made a face. She wouldn't even bother hiding the disgust she felt.

"You killed him! He was my uncle!" The young man was half crazed, hanging onto his stick and pointing with a kunai. "I will kill you!" He advanced at a stumble.

Sakura scoffed. She came around the young man's side. He was no more than 18, maybe even a tall 16. He would have been a child during the war, not even a genin. Sakura easily took the arm weilding the kunai and twisted it around his back.

He shouted in pain and fell to one knee. "Gahh! Fuck you, Konoha bitch!"

Sakura grinned. It never failed. All those young guys were always the same, so full of piss and vinegar, always cussing at their opponents even after they lost. "Oh shut the hell up, you idiot. You had a stroke of good luck by surviving. Don't throw your life away, especially not when the old man died trying to avenge you."

Toshi struggled and snarled. Sakura got the kunai away from him and kneed him the gut, making him fall with a grunt.

"I'll never...quit...until you're dead!" He gasped.

Sakura gave an annoyed snort. He was serious. Standing over him with a hand on her hip she informed him where that would get him. "Then you'll be dead very soon."

Somehow the young ninja found the energy to hop to a crouched position and send another fireball at her.

Sakura had had enough. She just didn't have enough time for this crap anymore. If this was what Iwa ninja had come to, they were better off out of their misery.

She moved faster than Toshi could track and stood behind him, and arm wrapped around his neck. With one smooth movement she jerked up and to the side. She feel the crack and crumble of his vertebrae as she snapped his neck. He slid to the ground.

Sakura dusted herself off. She stepped over Toshi's corpse as she walked toward Sasuke. So the problem remained. Just how would she get Sasuke to Konoha? She fully expected that he would run the second he was free. She needed him to hold still at least to talk with him. If he refused like he always had... then she would have to use force. But first thing first: she had to end the genjutsu or otherwise get him to stop releasing his chakra or he would die from the drain in the next couple of hours. She would have to reach him somehow without getting electrocuted. She grimaced. This would be easier if Naruto were around.

From her pouch she removed a medical needle. From another pocket she tugged a vial with a liquid narcotic. She would have to move quickly. The narcotic dissolved very quickly in the air, but if it got into the blood stream fast enough it would act as a muscle relaxant. The right amount would take the fight out of Sasuke, but too much would knock him unconscious.

Sakura stepped behind Sasuke, where the threat of wild electricity was less. She gathered her chakra - mindful that she was perhaps at half her strength - and focused it on a point in hand where she could slam it into Sasuke, disrupting and dispelling the genjutsu. She readied the injection so it would take as little time as possible.

Clearing her mind, she took a deep breath and let it out. Then she drove two fingers into the back of Sasuke's head. "Kai!"

What followed took less than two seconds, but in the way of disasters and horrible accidents, time dilated before Sakura and she could observe every detail perfectly as circumstances snapped around her.

At the same time that the genjutsu faded away Sakura realized she had miscalculated by assuming that Sasuke would run.

She observed her arm slam the injection down as he turned to face her.

It entered his left arm at the same time that a chidori stream sliced across her side. His Sharingan eyes were active.

The world twisted around her as she flew several feet. She felt neither cold nor heat but was aware that she a new, terrible wound.

The sky was very blue. The trees, very green. This time wasn't like that time on the bridge, but it echoed with her failure.

The arch of her flight bent back toward the earth. She closed her eyes, expecting an impact.

Somewhere there was a crack and splash of white light. Then blackness and silence.

-傷-

I was trying to write more of TRANSITIONS but there are problems in the story I'm trying to iron out. And something slipped out that I thought might work. Instead it became this. Downside, it'll take me a little while to get back to TRANSITIONS. Upside, most of KIZU (which showed up in my head as the kanji first) is completed.

Not sure if I'll change to M later. I wrote a lemon toward the end but I think it might seem forced and not really relevant to the story. Actually, it probably is. [grumble]


	2. Chapter 2

Sasuke's mind whirled in a storm of electricity and blood, the afterimages of the genjutsu. He'd known it was genjutsu but without activating his Sharingan he couldn't fight it. The agony of trying to activate and failing over and over stretched the minutes into eons. The man's voice compelling him to speak of secrets he didn't dare reveal had infuriated him to the point that he could feel the strain in his jaw as he struggled physically to keep his mouth shut.

As reality manifested itself and the genjutsu fell away his body had moved automatically to strike a perceived attack. Too late rational thought came together to scream for dismissing the chidori before he hurt anyone.

Now there was blood and there was the field in the afternoon and his chidori screeching away. His left arm felt like mush and he was feeling lethargic. Thoughts were coming slowly.

Sasuke blinked. He was no longer under attack but the field was smoking from eruptions and explosions. He had struck someone...

Sasuke looked up in horror. ...pink hair. No. It couldn't be.

At the base of a tree a dozen feet away lay the crumpled body of a pink haired woman. She wore the jonin uniform of a Konoha shinobi. She was missing one shoe. Sasuke found it lying on its side near him. And near it was a a needle.

Sasuke dismissed his chidori and wiped his face and left arm. His left arm wouldn't move and his face felt... well, he couldn't feel his face. He looked again at the needle. Dammit.

He stumbled forward toward the woman, shoe in one hand, demanding his legs to work properly. She looked older than Sakura, he thought. Or he prayed it. His thoughts were as difficult to control as his body. It was a bit like being drunk only far more irritating.

He staggered the last few feet and collapsed on his knees. Unable to move gracefully, he grabbed the woman's head and wrenched it over so he could see her face. Pale skin and dusty rose lips turned to the sun. A woman's face, to be sure, but Sakura's.

For a moment Sasuke cursed himself to hell. No, no, no, no, no! Not Sakura! How could-

Then her throat moved slightly as she drew a pained breath.

Sasuke fell back to sitting, relief taking even more strength away from his body. He hadn't killed her.

Trying to think was a pain. How could he solve this...? How could he make Sakura be okay? She should open her eyes. He wanted to tell her to open her eyes but his tongue was thick in his mouth. Was her skin getting whiter? She would know, she was the medic.

Yes, a medic. She might have medicine. He slapped at her hip pouch with one hand. He smacked other pockets until he heard a glass chink. He pulled out a bottle and was glad to find it filled with soldier pills.

He took one for himself, vaguely thinking it might counteract the drowsy feelings that were stealing over him. He wasn't sure he could make Sakura take a pill while unconscious. What if she choked on it?

He crushed a pill in his hand. He silently asked her forgiveness as he parted her lips with dirty fingers. He tried to drop as much of the powder in her mouth as he could but a lot of it seemed to fall on her face and ear. He tried to close her mouth and maker her swallow but her head only tipped back over, making her hair fall over like a curtain.

He scrubbed at his head with embarrassingly imprecise fingers. His hands and feet felt cold but his head felt hot.

Sasuke wanted to cry. He had sworn hadn't he? He had made an oath that would never again allow someone to suffer for his foolish actions.

It might have been his imagination, but he thought he heard a quiet groan. He reached for her shoulders and pulled her up. He cradled her head and moved the hair out of her face. "Sakura."

A crease appeared between her eyebrows. Her eyes scrunched tightly. Then her lips parted and a tongue swiped over them. Her eyes opened slightly. A very weary, very slow "Sasuke?" issued from her mouth.

Sasuke put a hand to the side of her face. "I'm here."

"Oh."

Sasuke thought she was trying to nod but realized she was trying to move more than her head. He helped her sit up only to watch her pitch forward and vomit on his arm.

Sakura pushed away until she was on her hands and knees and dry heaving. Sasuke wiped his arm as well as he could and observed movement was starting to come back to him. Sakura was sitting on her ankles, still hunched over and shaking slightly.

Sasuke forced himself to look to her side where her blouse hung in ragged shreds. The electricity of the chidori cauterized wounds on contact so there was never much blood spilled. But the internal damage would be horrible. He noticed she was moving slightly and observed a hand reach to the same wound and gloved fingers feel its contours. He crept to her side.

Sakura moved very slowly. Her eyes were closed and she perspired heavily. Sasuke reached for her arm. On contact her eyes opened, she seemed to have to work to focus on him.

"You hit your head on the tree." He said.

She nodded dumbly, in short jerks. Slowly, like her arm weighed a great deal, she lifted a hand to the back of her head and winced. "Yeah... concussion. I see. Have to heal it." Her eyes closed and for a moment she teetered like she might fall over. Sasuke even lifted a hand in case she did.

A green glow emanated from her hand over the back of her head. Sakura squeezed her eyes tight and her forehead furrowed with concentration.

Sasuke felt utterly useless.

After exactly three minutes the light winked out and Sakura's arm flopped over and down to her side. Her eyes opened half way and her head bobbed as she turned to look at Sasuke.

"You haven't killed me."

Sasuke's eyes went wide.

Sakura shook her head. "No that's not it. You haven't left. You're here still."

Sasuke felt cold inside. Of course she would expect the worst from him, she had no reason not to and ample evidence from their past should make her cynical. "I hurt you." Was all he could say.

Sakura nodded and let her head tip over. "Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Wwhat?!" Did the concussion lead her to say strange things? This was _his _fault.

Sakura sighed and looked at Sasuke again. "I drugged you when I got you out of the genjutsu. I was careless around you when you were feeling under attack. So it's my fault you're taking care of me." Sakura's gaze flickered away and then back to Sasuke. "But I'm glad you are."

Sasuke just stared at her. Then he shook his head. He handed Sakura her missing shoe. "I'm not even doing anything, you are healing yourself."

"Mh. As to that." Sakura put on her shoe and then slowly pulled bandages from her back pouch. "I can't heal any more. I can't really do much of anything any more. All I can do is get some rest so my chakra comes back."

Sasuke frowned. "But your side..."

"I have some antiseptics but everything has to be by hand from here on."

"But you could die."

Sakura grunted. "I guess, for my carelessness, that's what I deserve." She was wrapping a bandage around her head but it slipped. "Dammit."

Sasuke took hold of the bandage and kneeled beside Sakura. He removed her hitaiate gently and placed it in her hands. Then he wrapped the bandage properly and tied it off.

"Thanks."

"Aa." Sasuke stood up. He held out a hand to Sakura.

She look up at him, shock plain on her face. Eyes flicked to his hand and then his face again, while her mouth hung slightly open. Sasuke was tempted to take back his hand but she finally put her hand in his.

He hauled her to her feet. Her fingers inside her gloves were long and thin.

"I stay in a cottage further up the river. You should get your rest and finish healing there."

Sakura stared at him and was silent.

She was still so long that Sasuke finally broke the silence. "I don't know what happened here..." he gestured to the destroyed field behind him. "But if you can't defend yourself you need to leave."

Sakura sucked in a deep breath and glanced at the field. "I'm not sure I can walk."

"Hn." Sasuke stepped into place to let Sakura climb on his back.

Sakura seemed to hesitate but after long moment her hands took hold of his shoulders and a knee pushed into his waist. When she was secure Sasuke began to walk.

"I would never have imagined it." Sakura's tone was soft, as if she dared not raise her voice for fear of breaking a spell. "I guess we all have to change, but to think that you would carry me to your home." She made a small musing sound and then was quiet for the rest of the trip.

Sasuke had to suppose back then he was unlikely to have been so solicitous, but circumstances would never have permitted it. There was always someone there, keeping him away from any Konoha ninja.

But no, no excuses. He chose his company deliberately and he chose to turn his back on Konoha. No wonder Sakura looked at him like she was observing a complete stranger pretend he was a friend.

Her legs were long around his hips and dangled wildly. He could feel her thigh muscles through her pants and her grip on his upper arms furthermore told him that she definitely earned her jonin rank. Certainly, if she could take out two Iwa shinobi at the same time... He wondered how much of the mess on the field was her doing.

Sakura adjusted herself and her arm moved lightly against his throat. She had grown up without him.

Try as he may, he couldn't avoid his old life or his old ties. He supposed one was only free of such things when one was dead.

Sasuke reached the clearing that he called home. A ramshackle cottage came into view. He walked up through a broken down gate and headed for the door.

He had contemplated suicide back then, in those dark days after the war. His mind had felt clear finally and he could see what had come of his choices. Death and destruction had been his gifts to the world. Sasuke knew full well that he had sought them out but he had never once considered what it might be like if he survived. The countries' forces went home again. The Akatsuki were finally and complete smashed and every single member of his family save himself was utterly dead.

Sasuke toed open the door and eased himself and Sakura inside. He let his eyes adjust to the darkness and walked to the pallet where he made his bed.

In those smoke filled days after the war he had run fast and hard. Many shinobi simply wanted his head on a platter. But Konoha... Naruto... wanted him. They wanted him to come home. Most wanted him to stand trial. But Naruto wanted him to... what? Sasuke was never really clear. Simply be teammates again, like nothing had ever happened? Sasuke told himself he ran from Naruto to escape his stupidity. But on many nights, when he couldn't sleep and there were still too many hours before dawn, he had cursed himself at length. He ran to avoid his actions...and to avoid the idea that he had never needed to take them. He ran from the camaraderie and acceptance that only Naruto could give. He ran so he wouldn't have to see someone who had faith in him, who _cared _about him.

Sasuke gently let Sakura down onto the pallet. She groaned delicately and clutched a hand to her side. He watched her as she moved. He both did and didn't want her to care about him.

With some effort she shifted and pulled a pouch loose. She pushed it to him. "There's a bottle with antiseptic spray and cotton. I need your help to clean this out." She pointed to her side. "I'd do it myself but...god...I'm so tired." She let her head fall back. Her eyes slid closed.

Sasuke picked up the spray and the bag of cotton balls. He'd barely ever done more than wrap a bandage. He knew nothing about medicine.

He poked at her blouse and finally decided the best way to proceed was to push it up to just under her breasts. (He had an unformed thought about how they were bigger than he remembered but the hideous wound he had given her quickly focused him on the work at hand.) She had two scars on her stomach, one just below the ribs and one to the side of her belly button. If this wound wasn't healed thoroughly, and preferably with medical ninjutsu she would have much larger and uglier scar.

Sasuke got to work and was as thorough as he knew how. When he finished he gently shook Sakura so she would sit up. Between the two they applied the wraps around her ribs.

"Thank you, Sasuke."

"Hn. I'm going to get supplies from the village. You should rest."

"Yeah." Sakura lay herself down awkwardly.

Sasuke thought about saying something else. About contacting her team... But he wasn't eager to be a part of that. It would end up requiring more running for him. For now all Sakura could do was rest. Once she was healed they could go their separate ways.

He pulled off her shoes and gloves and arranged them neatly, then he reached over to where he had kicked off his blanket that morning. He pulled it up over Sakura and tucked it in around her shoulders.

Even though her eyes were closed Sakura smiled.

Sasuke tried and failed to smile back.

-傷-

To be continued...

Reviews are happy things!


	3. Chapter 3

Several minutes after Sasuke left the cottage Sakura wrenched her eyes open. Every single nerve in her body protested against staying awake and the pain in her side was miserable. But every minute she allowed to pass without healing was another minute that one of her lungs could collapse.

She made a frustrated sound. She had no time for lying on her back. Sakura didn't have a lot at her disposal and hated feeling out of control. She had worked to toughen herself so she wouldn't rely on others, yet here she was in a precarious situation with a hundred ways it could get worse.

Sakura groaned as she pulled herself into a seated position against the wall and breathed shallowly. Her lung burned and spasmed.

Sakura tipped her head back until it bounced off the wall. Out of the frying pan... Here she had been thinking that she was heading for a nasty scolding for killing foreign ninja when her orders were to avoid fighting, and now she was resting in the home of a rogue ninja who had just very nearly killed her.

How did the Iwa end up interrogating Sasuke? Were there more Iwa who knew he was here or was running into him as much a coincidence for them as it was for her? Would they be after him now that two of their own were dead? Where was Kakashi's team situated now? Would one of them sneak into the village and see Sasuke? What if they ran into the Iwa instead?

She shook her head, trying to push away unhelpful thoughts. She needed to assess her injuries completely. She already knew she couldn't heal herself without help.

The chidori had struck her over the ribs just below her left breast. Ironically, Sakura couldn't see her wound due to her breast. She would laugh if it didn't hurt so damned much. She tried to imagine Sasuke cleaning the wound, his face basically level with her chest...but she couldn't do it. That cold bastard would never get distracted by a woman's curves.

At any rate, the first order of priority was to reduce the pain. Just breathing hurt and gathering the tiny remains of her chakra together was going to be next to impossible with her head swimming in agony.

Up till now the worst wound she had ever gotten was when Naruto lost control of himself and his kyuubi had struck her down. Her arm was still slightly discolored. She sighed. Naturally Sasuke would give her something that could rival Naruto.

Sakura gathered what remained of her chakra and fashioned it precisely so it would sink into her flesh. It reduced the swelling, relaxing the nerve endings. The relief nearly led her to pass out again.

Still, a little alarm went off in her head as she was at critical levels for chakra.

"Please, just a little bit more." She muttered. She took a deep breath and concentrated.

Her head swam in a haze but she forced herself to weave the tendrils of chakra. She methodically went through the hand signals for a summoning jutsu.

She barely had any breath to whisper, "Hi, Katsuya," and then she fell over in a slump.

The slug summons was perhaps as large as two Choji's put together and felt cramped in the cottage. She spied her mistress's protege collapsed by the wall.

"Sakura-san! Oh, no, you've fallen! I'll come right to you!" The slug made her way to Sakura.

"There, I will just put you inside me and try heal you that way." Katsuya slipped over Sakura and enveloped her, gently turning over the kunoichi and letting her slime access Sakura's wounds. "Oh my goodness, this is terrible! Sakura-san, your damage is awful. Your lungs! Your stomach! I truly hope I can help."

The giant slug healer fretted aloud as she worked and after ten minutes Sakura slipped out from her insides with a moist slurp. In a moment she coughed and rolled to her side, coughing and gasping.

"Sakura-san! Are you alright?"

"Yes, Katsuya." Sakura's voice was weak but became more steady as she spoke. "Thank you for your help, and for the loan of chakra."

"You were in terrible shape, ma'am! I am afraid I can't continue to heal you tonight. This is as much as your body can manage until you get a full night of sleep. I am surprised to see you hurt so bad and no sign of your team or any enemy."

"I know, Katsuya. I'll explain it to you, but I need you to do me a favor. Please take what I am about to tell you directly to Lady Tsunade. She can make sure that Naruto hears it right away. I don't have time to waste on messengers that can get intercepted."

"Yes, Sakura-san! I will do it!"

"Thank you, Katsuya. Here is what I need you to tell Lady Tsunade:

_This should be considered a top level secret for Konoha, and Naruto should hear it immediately._

_I found Sasuke. **Do. N****ot. A****pproach.** Situation is very fluid._

_I was injured as a result of freeing him from Iwa capture. I killed the Iwa shinobi that caught him. He is helping me recover._

_Sasuke is much changed. I mean, it's a shocking difference. Please give me three days. I can recover in that time and try to influence Sasuke to come home._

_I am sorry this will make diplomatic efforts much harder, so I urge they be concluded quickly, before this situation is well known._

_I haven't contacted team lead yet. I'll summon Katsuya again tomorrow morning for your responses._

"Do you have all that, Katsuya?"

"Yes, Sakura-san! How wonderful that you have found your teammate again, and he is caring for you!"

"Mh." Sakura nodded. "I'm glad." She wasn't lying, she told herself. It _was_ as a result of setting him free from the genjutsu that she got hurt. Sakura sighed. But all Tsunade had to do was ask Katsuya what kind of injuries she had and the woman would quickly realize it was Sasuke who had nearly killed her.

Well there was nothing she could do about it now. This was the best spin she could put on it.

"I will go to Lady Tsunade at once. Sakura-san, you must rest and recuperate without pushing yourself. Even if you slept through the whole night now, it would not be enough to finish healing."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Please conserve your chakra, and please be careful with your health!"

"Yes, Katsuya, I will."

"Very well, Sakura-san, I will see you in the morning."

"Good night, Katsuya."

A puff of smoke signaled Katsuya's exit and Sakura was sitting cross legged on a pallet all by herself.

She rubbed her eyes. Sleep sounded more and more like a marvelous idea. But she needed to know more about her situation. She looked around herself at the tiny cottage she was in. It was perhaps ten feet by twelve, extremely utilitarian and gave not one hint as to what Sasuke was doing there. As Sakura looked around she realized the one thing the place _didn't_ have was anything that hinted at weaponry or life as a shinobi. No scrolls, no sword or kunai... It baffled Sakura.

What in the world brought Sasuke here? What did he do with his days? She swallowed. For that matter, how did he change so much? And why? She had watched Naruto grow up before her very eyes, so of course he was very different now as a man - and the Hokage! - compared to how he was as a knucklehead genin. But that didn't explain Sasuke's change - he had become...compassionate! How...? Why...?

Her stomach rumbled loudly and she realized that on top of desperately needing to sleep, she also needed to eat. With a grumble, she lumbered to her feet. She was no longer in pain, but her body was still lethargic and weak. Surely Sasuke kept a little food in the cottage?

She poked around at the few furnishings, telling herself it was okay to be a little nosy since she was just looking for food. She found boxes with clothing and she was struck by how nondescript they were. Finally she realized there wasn't a single symbol on them - no Uchiha fan, Konoha leaf or fire kanji - and most of the colors were drab, like he was trying to wear obscurity on purpose.

Sakura finally found some food stores and pulled out half of a loaf of bread. That would do. She pinched off pieces to eat as she headed back to her bed. She considered the situation further.

She was supposed to meet with Kakashi's team at midnight but there wasn't much chance she would be able to make it in her condition. At this point it would take Sasuke carrying her. And speaking of Sasuke, she hoped he could avoid another ambush, or whatever had really happened to let him fall to Kishi's genjutsu.

Sakura didn't realize she had lain down with bread still in hand. Absently she pulled the blanket over her legs and munched on her bread, idly thinking about the Konoha shinobi in the local areas.

Due to the uncertain nature of shinobi activity, ninja with Sakura's mission were also supposed to skirt villages in an effort to reduce the likelihood of encounters with foreign ninja. Sakura had heard interesting things about the village which was why she had been scouting the area. If Kakashi and the others kept the mission instructions better than she did, they would never run into Sasuke.

She drifted off to sleep wondering if she was relieved by that or not.

-傷-

Katsuya is such a perfect lady.


	4. Chapter 4

When Sasuke arrived two hours later, the sun had set completely and the stars were beginning to show themselves. Sakura was sprawled on the pallet and unconscious, holding something in her hand.

It was a part of a bread loaf, crushed into dough by. her hand. Sasuke tugged it out of her hand and realized there were crumbs on her blouse and in her hair. Also there were crumbs on the pillow and the sheets. He sighed and whisked some of the crumbs away.

Sakura was dead to the world. Sasuke realized he could leave the supplies he brought, pack his things and run. But he didn't want to. Not yet, he thought.

Sasuke regarded his former teammate quietly. There was a softness around Sakura's eyes that wasn't there when she was awake. Color had come back to her cheeks. Her breath was steady, indicating she was not in pain. He rearranged her long limbs and put the blanket back in place over her.

He admitted to himself, she was a fine looking woman. Lean but very pretty. No doubt there were other girls who ended up better endowed, but Sakura must have been turning heads back in Konoha. He idly wondered if she had a boyfriend.

Sasuke pulled in a long breath and let the thought go. It had nothing to do with him. He turned to the supplies and began to unpack them. He had far more important things to think about.

He contemplated what he had observed in the village:

Sasuke had been as curt and to the point as possible. The first thing he had done was pay a visit to Kouki. He found him hanging out with his buddies outside the gambling hall. He invited the younger man into a dark corner and then shoved him against the wall, telling him that under no uncertain terms would Sasuke forget his actions. Kouki had protested of course. All he knew was that a lunatic with a sword was out by the river, how was he to know it was ploy to capture Sasuke?

This had made Sasuke even more angry and he caught Kouki's hand in a joint lock. As the young man gasped in pain, Sasuke asserted that Kouki was having a fine time gambling with the money he had been paid to send Sasuke out in the first place. Sasuke practically threw Kouki back to his friends and warned them to spend their money more wisely. Hard days were coming to their village.

The young men hurried away from him, half-hearted curses echoing down the street. Sasuke made an annoyed sound. They would never understand until they saw for themselves what a nasty business it was to get involved with ninja.

The young folk their age didn't understand how badly ninja had hurt their village, or had hurt the world beyond, for that matter. The guys just old enough to have some strength in their arms and backs had no perspective. No idea of the misery that followed ninja around like a long, bleak shadow.

Sasuke had then gone to see Genmei. He had to steel himself. The old healer woman was exactly the opposite of Kouki. She only knew of the tragedies ninja visited on the common people. She despised ninja, and with very good reason.

He had hoped with enough coin and a hefty dose of flattery she would come to his cottage and help Sakura. But as soon as he began explaining her wounds to the healer, the old woman blanched and remarked that it sounded like a ninja who had lost a fight. Sasuke tried to reassure Genmei that Sakura was a medic and not the usual brash ninja, but Genmei wouldn't hear of it.

The old woman had reminded him that Sasuke himself was only tolerated in the village because of his help in returning the Mimasaka children to their parents. Sakura was a stranger and a ninja, and if she was injured then she must have deserved it. Sasuke wasn't eager to make a bad situation worse by mentioning that he was the one who hurt her, and on accident. Let her think it was other shinobi who injured Sakura.

So he then decided to lay his cards on the table. He told Genmei that more ninja may be coming to the village soon. He told her of Kouki coming to him to tell him of a madman raving near a field by the south bend in the river. Supposedly the madman was ranting and waving a sword, causing a spectacle. Sasuke had gone, meaning to keep everyone safe, but it had turned out to be an ambush by Iwa shinobi. And that, he concluded, was how Sakura, a passing shinobi from Konoha had gotten hurt.

Genmei had been shocked, she clearly didn't want to believe it. But she had no choice, and she told him why. She had heard of shinobi on the road outside of town. Their hitaiate bore the symbol of Iwa. And Genmei knew Kouki well enough to know that betraying a village outsider for money was perfectly in character for him.

Sasuke then swore to Genmei that he would do everything in his ability to keep the village free of any trouble. But, he insisted, he had to see that this medic was healthy enough to return to her team. She could see to it that any Konoha ninja stayed away from the village.

The old woman sniffed. Wasn't Sasuke from Konoha? Why didn't he inform them of what the Iwa were doing there? And what did the Iwa want with him, for that matter?

Sasuke stared back at the old woman silently. Genmei was nobody's fool and she would instantly see through any attempt to leave out crucial information.

Finally he had told her the conclusion he had reached ever since he had carried Sakura from the battlefield: He would be leaving very soon. Perhaps to the west this time.

It hadn't answered any questions but it allayed her fears. He had brought trouble to the village; he would see that it left with him.

Genmei hemmed and finally accepted his money. She still wouldn't go tend Sakura, but she pulled an extensive variety of herbs, jars of liquids, wraps soaked in chemicals and so on and filled two sacks for him. She said if Sakura were a proper medic she would know what to do with them.

Sasuke thanked the old woman quietly. He didn't imagine that Sakura would need all of the medicines. A substantial amount was a farewell gift for him.

Lastly he had stopped at the market for food. He was as efficient as he could be. Sasuke had gotten the distinct impression that the fewer people who saw him the better. He could feel eyes on him and he wondered if Kouki had told others about the shinobi strangers who offered money to get Sasuke alone.

Sasuke had started making comments about the weather in the west and road conditions. The provisions he bought would give the clear impression of someone who needed to take food on the road.

Finally, loaded down, he had returned to his cottage by a back road.

Now, as night deepened, he prepared a dinner and periodically looked over to Sakura's sleeping form. It would likely be at least two days before she could care for herself.

He needed to take precautions until then. A genjutsu to hide the cottage, to begin with. Let anyone else who looked for him get lost in the woods and come away thinking the rumors in the village of him heading west were true.

He pared his vegetables with irritated, jerky motions. He had come to like the cottage and the village.

-傷-

A calm before the storm...

I like reviews, though I get it if it doesn't feel there's much to review yet. It's coming along...


	5. Chapter 5

Sasuke was sorting through his supplies for what wanted to take on the road when he heard rustling behind him. Sakura was on her side, head propped in one hand. She blinked at him sleepily.

"You hungry?" He asked.

"Starving."

He grunted and took a bowl to the pot hung over a fire that held the dinner he had made.

Sakura groaned as she rolled up to sitting. She moved very stiffly. She sat cross-legged and accepted the dinner.

"It's just a vegetable soup."

"Mh." Sakura sniffed. "Smells good. Thanks." She hunched over the bowl and dug in.

After a few minutes she looked up at Sasuke, that was when he realized he was staring at her. "What is it?" She asked.

"You look better."

Sakura shrugged. "I'm not going die." She returned her attention to her soup. "Reduced the pain and fixed the worst of the internal damage. But my chakra is pretty much gone." A huge yawn worked its way out from deep inside and she scrubbed her eyes. "This sucks."

"I'm sorry." Sasuke said automatically.

"Don't say that," Sakura snapped. Her mouth clicked shut.

Sasuke stiffened but he was determined to speak his mind. "If you were reckless I was far more violent than necessary. The chidori was only meant to threaten the Iwa shinobi but once the genjutsu was gone I reacted on reflex." He gritted his teeth. "I swore to limit the harm I caused. I swore people wouldn't suffer for my actions anymore."

He ground his teeth for a few seconds and practically growled, "But I did it again. I hurt you again. So I'm sorry."

Silence descended in the cottage. Sakura's grip on the bowl seemed to tighten. Finally she resumed eating.

Sasuke forced himself to breathe. He wasn't quite done. "I have to imagine you have a team nearby. If you intend to contact them I won't stand in your way." He turned to the knapsack he was preparing.

"No, you'll just run." Sakura's voice was dry and it gave Sasuke a moment's pause.

"I have to go anyway. More Iwa have been seen in the area. They'll find the field eventually."

"So..."

"I put a genjutsu around the cottage so even if they pay another villager for information on where I live, it won't be easy to find this place."

"Is that how they got you today?"

Sasuke sighed. "They paid one of the young men from the village to tell me there was a man with a sword, ranting and threatening people down at the south bend in the river where the road leads to Iwa territory. I thought I would find a crowd, instead those two jumped out. I thought I had to protect Kouki, that guy who took me to where I was supposed to find the lunatic." Sasuke shrugged. "He wasn't the one in trouble."

"I wonder," Sakura muttered.

"About what?"

"I came here to investigate Iwa shinobi crossing into the Land of Fire illegally. This area is being argued over by the daimyo of both countries. It turned out old Ohnoki could keep the daimyo from the Land of Earth from grabbing all the territory he set his eyes on. But ever since he passed away the new Tsutchikage has been happy to let his shinobi sneak across our borders and pretend this is Earth Country.

"Anyway, I never expected to find you here. So I wonder if the Iwa just got lucky or if they came here looking for you."

"Hn."

"Sasuke..." Sakura sighed and put down her empty bowl. "It's obvious that you've put the past behind you." She glanced at him, holding eye contact for a second before looking away. "Who you were is not who you are. I heard the questions they were asking you. They wanted you to betray Konoha, and you were resisting."

Sasuke wanted to speak but Sakura forestalled him. "Wait, look, I'm not naive enough anymore to think that you really care about Konoha all of a sudden. I had to get you free of the genjutsu so the Iwa wouldn't make you to give us up. That's all."

Sasuke studied her face as Sakura stared back at him with a cold, steady gaze. He wondered where that little girl who had so doted on him had gone. If she was another casualty of the war, it was probably for the best. She was too soft and silly for the shinobi world.

"Thank you for getting me out of there." He finally said. He said nothing about killing the Iwa shinobi. Though indirectly, their deaths were his fault.

"Sure." Sakura tried to stand but couldn't seem to manage it. "Ugh no wonder the ninja I treat are so cranky all the time. Not being able to control my body is the worst!"

Sasuke bit his tongue against another apology. As long as Sakura could not even stand up he was extremely loathe to leave her alone. She clearly didn't even have the energy for a genjutsu of her own.

"I'll stay here until you can get back to your team. If you need help contacting them I can arrange a messenger but that means I'll leave the second it's done."

Sakura looked somewhat shocked. Sasuke took on her scandalized stare calmly. "You'll...stay? To take care of me?"

Sasuke was starting to feel somewhat embarrassed by her stare. "As long as you don't reach out to your team, I'll help you out. I don't need Konoha shinobi breathing down my neck as well as Iwa."

Sakura said nothing.

Sasuke looked away. "Stop staring at me."

"It's just...you really are different. I..." Sakura looked away for a moment but soon looked back at Sasuke. She whispered, "What the hell happened?"

Sasuke closed his eyes. He couldn't possibly answer the question. Not now. Not to her. He turned back to his knapsack. "The war wasn't enough?"

"But..." Sakura paused, perhaps to better pick her words. "You came at Naruto so fast and hard. And he... I couldn't see most of it, but I know Naruto. I know he didn't just fight with his fists and the kyuubi. And then he was on the ground and you were gone." Another pause. "That can't be enough to convince Sasuke Uchiha to be kind. Never mind getting rid of clothing with symbols of the Uchiha, you were proud of that to the end! And I haven't seen a single weapon either, where is your sword?"

Sasuke wanted to swear. It had been years since anyone pried into him about his past. "I threw it away. I threw all weapons away three years ago."

Sasuke could feel Sakura's shock bore into his back. He refused to turn around as he kept packing.

"You really... you've quit being a shinobi?"

Sasuke scoffed. "I can't stop being a shinobi any more than I can stop breathing. My chakra is awake, my training will be with me forever." Then he turned to Sakura. "But I don't have to be a part of the life anymore. I usually don't have to resort to violence and I don't have to think of being helpful to others as something that costs me."

Sakura had a considering look, like she was trying to assess how much she trusted what she saw and what she heard. "But the villagers come to you when there's a dangerous situation."

Sasuke grunted. He had forgotten about the medicine Genmei had sold to him. He passed the sacks to Sakura. "The villagers don't like shinobi, at least not the older ones. During the past wars some of the battles came through the area and burned the fields and destroyed homes. Some ninja went through the village, taking whatever they could and killing anyone in their way.

"The people only remember it was ninja who did it. They didn't pay attention to what country they were from since at one point or another ninja from every country came through here. It's like that in a lot of the places where the wars were fought. At first putting away obvious signs that I was a shinobi just meant people didn't hassle me, and that way I didn't have to fight them.

"But the more I heard how much anger there is out there, and the more I see how that anger has been earned, the more I come to realize that shinobi never did anything good for the world. That's how I started thinking of myself as a former shinobi.

"The villagers don't care, of course. To them a shinobi is no better than a murderer and a thief. But they didn't know me one way or the other so they didn't mind if I stayed in this broken down cottage. Genmei says before the Third Great Shinobi War this place was built by a fisherman. But he disappeared during the war. Ever since, ninja passing through the area typically squat here, so I'm no different.

"One day I was in the village when I heard about some kids that got snatched off the road. The boys were being held for ransom or they would be killed. The girl...she was older. The kidnappers said she would cost extra or they would keep her for themselves.

"I said I'd take care of it, and I did. They were just thugs so it was easy to tie them up and turn them over to the authorities. The kids were safe and sound. But it was obvious to everyone that I wasn't just a wandering laborer. Ever since I've only been tolerated. They come and get me when they need someone to deal with dangerous people." Sasuke shrugged. He could feel heat covering his ears after having talked about himself so much.

"So..." said Sakura. "You're like a specialized police force."

Sasuke made a face. He had been trying not to think exactly that of himself.

Sakura took in a breath and let it out again. "But now you're going to leave them. You're going to leave everyone all over again."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. What was she driving at?

Sakura took a deep breath. "Naruto would want me to tell you to come home. He would want me to do whatever it took." Her gaze was level and Sasuke could read nothing from her face.

"And do you want me to go back?"

Sakura snorted. "As if my opinion ever mattered to you. I'm just pointing out a fact. My Hokage believes you belong in Konoha."

They stared hard at each other until Sasuke nodded to the herbs and bandages. "There isn't a real doctor in a village. But there's an old lady who knows how to bind wounds and herbs for every ailment." Sakura started to go through them. "Genmei. Her husband was killed by shinobi during the war. He was respected in the village so Genmei isn't the only one who's still pissed that he died. I asked her to come see you and help you recover. I couldn't get her to come out. But she did sell me all that."

"Hm." Sakura glanced up at Sasuke and then back to the sacks. "A lot of this is medicine that I can definitely use, but there are a few things in here that don't make sense. Let me guess, you told her you'd leave to get her off your back about harboring a shinobi, and she gave you a bunch of extra meds for the road?"

"Something like that."

Sakura shook her head and dropped the sacks on her lap. She crossed her arms. "That's just like you. You make a home. You get people to believe in you, and then you run when things get tricky."

Sasuke frowned. "It's just like a Konoha ninja to say that the tragedy they bring to a village is 'tricky.' Genmei is glad I'm leaving and I know she's not alone."

Sakura looked and sounded peeved. "You used to be proud to take a stand. You never let other people push you off the ground you claimed. You were once proud to be from Konoha and you were _always _proud to be Uchiha. And just because you found out some hard truths, that's it? You're going to throw away your pride?"

Sasuke could feel heat crawling up his neck. His pride had caused so much trouble. "This is not about my pride. This is best for the village." He ground out.

"How is it for the best? If the village is about to be beset, as you make it sound, how will your leaving make anything better? Just who are you if you don't take pride in anything?" Sakura leaned forward in her seat, with hands on her thighs.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He was not used to this side of Sakura at all. "The village will have one less shinobi to worry about, and if the Iwa try to chase after me then there goes that problem too."

"Oh come off it. You're saying that this is for the good of the village, but really it just gets your ass out of trouble!"

"Excuse me, trouble with the Iwa? I didn't kill their shinobi." Sasuke's voice ticked up in volume.

"The Iwa aren't going to care unless you stand your ground and tell them that." Sakura's volume also increased and her face dared him to shout her down.

Their voices went on raising, higher and higher. "So I should just throw you to them? When you can't even stand?"

"It'll get them off your ass faster than hiding in a cottage that's halfway to falling down!"

"Just a couple minutes ago you were fine with me taking care of you, now you don't care if I left you to be tortured and killed by Iwa shinobi!" Sasuke couldn't stop the flood of words coming out of his mouth.

"I expected that you would do that from the start, because the you I remember wouldn't have hesitated to leave me back in that field! And that's assuming that guy back then wouldn't have killed me himself!"

"Goddammit, I already said I regret that crap that I did. Don't talk to me like I'm the only ninja that ever needlessly got blood on their hands! Konoha is pretty fucking tainted by its past failures!" Sasuke could barely control himself. He was shouting, feeling rage boil in his chest, his head and arms.

Sakura remained seated but her hands flew, pointing at him and occasionally making fists. "Ugh Can't you see that's why you'd be better off in Konoha than wandering around the back roads of the Five Great Nations? Where else are you going to find people who understand what it's like to let go of the life?"

"Don't fucking talk to me like you understand! I am not going back there like nothing fucking happened, like Konoha didn't ruin my fucking life!" Sasuke screamed.

"I understand plenty! You're trying to tell me that you don't need your pride. That you don't want to be a shinobi anymore. But I think that's bullshit! I think you've tried to forget your training and then something happens like some kids get kidnapped and there you go acting like a hero!"

Sasuke snarled, "Sakura-"

"I'm not done! You wanted to do something for the village, just like you didn't want to betray Konoha. And you can say it's because you don't want people to suffer because of you, but it's also that pride that gets you up every day. That tells you the difference from right and wrong and doesn't let you sit around and watch while the world stumbles around like a drunken idiot. It's that pride that forces you to help keep people safe, and it's that pride that's making you mad at me for talking about it! You'll never be able to throw away your shinobi heart and that's why you run away!"

"You want me to make this village a battlefield? Is that what you want?!" Sasuke could feel himself trembling with anger.

Sakura hitched and continued in a slightly lower tone. "I never said to make it a battlefield. I said, take a stand. You do know there are other ways of solving disputes without fighting, right?"

Sasuke scoffed. "You're asking ME? After you killed those two Iwa? At any point in time when you fought them did you stop to ask why I hadn't killed them? Did it ever occur to you that I was trying to deal with them _without_ killing them?"

Sakura's cheeks were pink. "By the time I got there you were already caught, so whatever you HAD been trying to do, you'd already failed!" Sakura pressed her lips together for a moment. "I'm trying to tell you there are alternatives when you let people help you. Alone all you can do is keep running."

Sasuke was getting sick of this fight. He was feeling confused about what he wanted to do and he hated that feeling more than anything. "What the hell am I supposed to then?" He spat out.

"Don't let the Iwa push these people around, and don't let them run you off. Hell, I'll help you once I can move on my own two feet. Even Naruto would understand and have your back. At that point, believe me, the Iwa shinobi would back down so fast your head would spin."

"Oh great, so your suggestion is that I ask you and Naruto for help after everything that's happened? And then just expect that we'll all be diplomatic and that a bunch of ninja will just see reason and put down their weapons? Tsch." Ninja went blood for blood, expecting anything else was dangerously stupid.

"You know what?" Sakura's voice was suddenly much lower, but still incredibly intense. "I just realized something. You _have_ changed a little bit, you're not in a hurry to fight the whole world anymore. But you still haven't changed from being someone who only believes in himself.

"If you really want to make something different happen in this world you'll have to take a stand. Put your pride in your home or your life. Make a couple friends and then _rely_ on them - and then be proud when they rely on you! And don't let Iwa - or Konoha - force you to leave a place that finally starts to feel like home!"

The scent of smoke in the autumn air came to him and he could hear a laugh that he had not heard in three years echoing in his ears. He ground his teeth hard and stared at Sakura.

She chuckled, though he noted her breath was harsh - she was exhausting herself. "Ho-ho, if looks could kill you'd owe me another apology!"

"Tsch. Get some sleep, Sakura." Sasuke turned back to his knapsack once more. "You're... you're so damned-"

"Annoying? How could I forget? Well too fucking bad, Sasuke, by this point I've been called much worse."

Over his shoulder he snapped, "You've changed too. You used to fall all over yourself to try to be with me, and now you act like you hate me."

"Well, maybe I do." Sakura's voice was scathing. Sasuke stiffened and a feeling like cold electric shocks ran down his spine.

Sasuke could hear take Sakura take a shaky breath. "For years and years people told me to grow up and get over you, to quit being so naive. Looks like I-" Sakura's voice faltered. "Looks like I finally did." She whispered.

Sasuke turned to her in alarm.

"Dammit," she muttered. She pressed a hand to her chest and drew in a whistling breath.

"Sakura." Sasuke stepped toward her.

"Stay away," She ordered. "I don't need you. If you want to stick around because you feel guilty, go ahead. But I can take care of myself. I've been doing that for the last eight years without anyone's help."

Sasuke stood back and watched Sakura master her breathing. He felt cold in his chest and acid in his stomach. "I wasn't going to call you annoying. I was going to call you bitter. You've become bitter and cynical."

Sakura made a face. "I had to grow up."

They were still for a moment. Then Sakura pushed the neat pile of medical supplies to one side and lay back down on the pallet. She rolled to face the wall and pulled the blanket over her head.

Sasuke stared at her for a full minute. "Tsch," he scoffed. What did she think she was going to accomplish by lecturing him about pride? It was his pride that cost him so much. He glowered at Sakura's back. She could just keep her bitchy know-it-all attitude to herself.

He cleaned up the dinner and tidied up the cottage for the night. It was nearly midnight and he had had a long day. Sakura was the one seriously hurt, but he hadn't escaped unscathed - he had burned a healthy amount of chakra while under the genjutsu. But in the tiny one room cottage Sakura lay on the only place suitable for a bed.

Sasuke indulged his angry thoughts as he arranged clothing and cloth sacks into a small nest he could sit on by the door. He would have to sleep sitting up. He arranged himself and glanced over to Sakura, dimly lit by the half moon filtering in from a single window. He could tell from how she breathed that she was still awake.

It was going to be a long night. Sasuke felt fatigued but still aggravated from arguing with Sakura. She was lying so stiffly that he guessed she felt similarly. He sat back against the wall and rubbed his eyes. She really hated him.

Sasuke finally asked himself a question that had been in his face since returning from the field. Why the hell wasn't he half way to Kiri by now? He could... He very well could simply leave. But he stayed. For what? The cottage? The village? To stay in the Land of Fire? For Sakura? None of that particularly moved him, he thought. He couldn't figure it out and it made him restless.

-傷-

And finally, you see why I'm filing this under drama. They, um, have a lot to work out.

Random thought, I really dislike the term "feisty" and hate it when Sakura is called feisty because she insists something for herself. Hm. Well this Sakura has issues... Just don't call her feisty.


	6. Chapter 6

Sakura opened her eyes slowly. Sleep seemed to have sealed them closed. Sunlight fell on her legs. That explained why they felt warm while her arms were still cool. It took her a moment to process where she was and why.

She sighed and rolled onto her back. Everything was stiff. Her ribs and abdomen ached. She guessed that she had probably had two hours of consecutive sleep. Prior to that she hadn't been able to stay asleep, still frustrated from yelling at Sasuke. She wondered if he hadn't finally decided to leave her to whatever ninja found her first.

Sakura pushed herself up to sitting. She was alone in the cottage. In the corner by the door she spied rags and clothing that looked flattened. She guessed that Sasuke had slept there through the night. His knapsack was still on a crate where he'd had it the night before so she imagined he hadn't hit the road just yet.

She stretched and yawned. Her lungs burned slightly, both still tired from trying to heal. Her hands fell on her head, specifically on the bandage that covered the lump she got from cracking her head on a tree. She worked it off and felt for the lump. It was progressing well. The skin had healed, though she could feel dried blood matted in her hair. The lump didn't really hurt but she could still feel it.

Sakura yawned once more and pushed herself to her feet. She had to use both hands and felt a bit winded, but was glad to be able to stand. With such poor sleep she was still very tired and her chakra was far from optimal, but at least she could move a little and had some chakra available for healing.

She took a step and kicked something. On inspection it was a small package from Sasuke's healer friend from the village. Those items would come in handy for speeding up the healing and reducing the visibility of the scar Sakura was sure to have.

Speaking of... Sakura put a hand to her side. It was long past time the bandage Sasuke had applied the day before was changed out. She could also feel her blouse was little more than rags. If she moved carelessly they would expose more of herself than was modest. Looking down Sakura could see her pants were only slightly better, tears and singed spots here and there meant they would have to be replaced as soon as she returned to Konoha.

She sighed and was glad Sasuke didn't seem to keep a mirror around. She was sure that all told she looked like a complete disaster.

Bending to the packs of medical supplies she found bandages soaked in medicine for burned skin. Perfect. Sakura stripped off her top, managing to tear it even more. She caught a whiff of herself and made a face. The sickly sweet smell of medicine and old sweat was pungent. She was grimy under her blouse and her bra rubbed on her skin.

With a sigh Sakura sat down and began working on the bandages wrapped around her ribs. She slipped a kunai between them and neatly cut them loose. The bandages over the wound itself were sticking and she hissed as she peeled them free.

Sakura pooled some of her chakra together and pushed in a small jutsu to protect the living tissue from the burned and dying skin nearby.

She didn't notice the footsteps until the door burst open and Sasuke threw himself into the cottage. "Hey!" She shouted. She scrambled for the rags that had been her blouse and held them over her chest.

"I felt chakra-" Sasuke caught himself short and blinked at her. "Oh." He snapped his head to the side.

Sakura tsked. She had moved automatically, but she wasn't really as demure as all that. And she couldn't spare a hand to keep holding her blouse over her breasts. "Whatever." She dropped her blouse. She saw Sasuke stiffen at her waspish tone. She could see circles under his eyes. She forced out the word, "sorry."

Sasuke glanced at her and quickly looked away again. She noticed he carried a handful of fish hanging from a line.

"Are those... did you just catch those?"

"Aa. They'll be breakfast."

Sakura nodded quietly and applied a new bandage to her side. She'd done as much as she could for the skin and the amount of chakra needed to heal her organs was still beyond her. She would need more help from Katsuya.

Sasuke worked on the fire and began to prepare the meal while Sakura pulled new bandages around her midsection. When she was done she toyed with her blouse and watched Sasuke. She knew she shouldn't just sit around in a bra but without a needle and thread she couldn't make use of the remains of her blouse. And she wasn't a very good seamstress, in any case.

"I'm sorry," she said, perhaps louder than she needed to. She still felt an urge to yell at Sasuke until he begged for forgiveness but she had just spent the entire night berating herself for her childish, stubborn behavior. "I didn't mean to yell at you last night. I didn't mean... I mean." She hitched. What did she mean? "I'm sorry for yelling and all that. Arguing won't help anything. I'm sorry I'm such a burden."

"Hn." Sasuke threw two handfuls of rice into a pot and covered them with water and a lid. He set the pot against the fire to steam. Then he lay the fish on the cutting board and carried on preparing it, cutting off the head and fins and removing the scales. He moved like he was trying hard not to look at Sakura. He spoke like he was merely thinking out loud. "I'm sorry I screamed at you. You **should** hate me, after all this time."

Shit. That's not what she meant at all. "I don't..." Sakura gritted her teeth. "I don't hate you. I just... uh..." I'm just mixed up, she wanted to say. I still want you to be the coolest ninja I know.

"You're disappointed. At least, you were back then, and now you're bitter."

"Huh?"

Sasuke drew in a breath and looked up from the pot over the fire. He looked Sakura directly in the eye. It made her hair on the back of her neck stand up but she didn't dare look away.

"I remember that day, on the bridge in the Land of Iron. I was so..." Sasuke shook his head. "I was halfway crazy with how much I hated everyone. The only thing that I didn't hate was thinking about revenge. Everyone needed to pay, I thought. And then you were standing there with that look on your face like you were sick at the sight of me. You wanted me to be something else, someone strong and calm. You had heard I wasn't that and you needed to come see for yourself. And when you saw it - you saw me for how I really was - and it was a disappointment."

They stared at each other for a long moment. Sasuke dropped his gaze first. A second pot held boiling water and he dumped the fish meat into it. "I didn't care about you or the look on your face. I was getting my revenge and your disappointment had nothing to do with my plans. The way you look at me now... It's like you're trying to find either the kid from Konoha or that disappointment who you wanted to kill on that bridge."

Sakura was speechless. She swallowed hard.

"I'm neither one, Sakura." He bent back to the fish.

For a moment Sakura wanted to cry. She wanted to bend over the crushing feeling in her chest and let out all the tears she'd stored up for eight years. But she pushed out the feeling with a harsh breath and sucked in cool air. "I know you heard Naruto was named Hokage more than a year ago. I don't think you heard that he's married now. Hinata is five months along with their first child."

Sasuke snapped his head up at the news.

Sakura continued. "I sit on the jonin council." She smiled wryly. "I make sure the jonin don't go and undermine anything Naruto is working on."

Sasuke continued to stare at her.

"We all change. We all have to. You changed a lot and it caught me off guard, I'll admit that. But I understand it." Sakura gazed back calmly at Sasuke and finally allowed a small smile to push up her lips.

Sasuke straightened up and stirred the pot in which the fish were boiling. Water splashed out of the pot and onto the fire making orange flames lick up the sides. "Naruto, huh?" His voice was low.

From his short, quick movements something irritated him, Sakura guessed. She spoke softly. "He's making Konoha change. Even before he became Hokage he was at the center of things when the Grass Village was starting to get chaotic." She laughed quietly. "You would never guess that instead of starting fights, he's ending them now. He helped the Grass Village get a proper organizing committee together to create a government free of corruption. He's probably done more for peace and keeping ninja from fighting each other all the time than anyone I've ever known."

"You respect him." Sasuke set his ladle aside and crossed his arms.

"Well... yeah. I guess. I know it's a strange word for it. Who could respect him who knew him when he was 12? But he's really grown so much and he won't let anyone else suffer, if he can help it." Sakura smiled suddenly. "Ninja don't get called 'cool' by stopping fights before they happen, but Naruto has prevented so many tragedies...I guess I can't help but respect that."

"Hn." Sakura couldn't tell if Sasuke simply wasn't listening to her or if what she said annoyed him.

"Well, I guess we're not all as good as Naruto at empathizing with other people. I know I'm not." She recalled the panicked looks she got when Naruto brought her to meetings where others were likely to argue with him. She sighed. "I probably made his life more difficult by killing those Iwa shinobi. I wasn't even supposed to engage anyone while I just checked out rumors of Iwa on this side of the river. He's been working so hard to keep this from turning into some kind of war."

"Hn." Sasuke didn't seem in a mood to talk as he checked the rice. "I'm going to go check the other fish traps. This should be ready in 20 minutes." He stood and walked to a box where he had some clothing. He pulled out light blue kimono. "Here." He tossed the kimono to Sakura. "Your shirt is wrecked."

Sakura watched Sasuke leave the cottage with increasing irritation. She was trying to be nice! She was trying to tell him that she understood he had to change, that the people he had known had changed too...and he just got up and made an excuse to leave! UGH She was never going to understand that asshole!

She silently counted to one hundred and then she got up and peeked out the door. There was no sign of Sasuke, and she couldn't feel his chakra. She pulled on the kimono he had tossed to her. She was slightly miffed that it seemed he would rather she covered up around him. Cold bastard. Still, she was relieved she wouldn't have to be hanging around in just a bra for the foreseeable future.

Now then. Sakura gathered her chakra and summoned Katsuya.

"Sakura-san! Good morning." The slug greeted her.

"Good morning, Katsuya."

"You are looking better, Sakura-san. Do you wish me to continue attempting to heal your injuries?"

"Yes, thank you. I don't think I can properly heal my internal organs."

"Very well."

Sakura held her breath and stepped into Katsuya's porous body. It was always a strange sensation of slime slipping over her skin, yet, even though it seemed like it ought to be wet and sticky, she always came out dry and clean.

She could feel Katsuya's chakra work with her own and flow through her system. It was a brisk, cleansing feeling. Sakura smiled inside the slug. At least she could do this properly.

Soon Sakura felt a pushing sensation and she moved out of Katsuya. She felt so much better she wanted to laugh.

"Thank you so much, Katsuya, I feel stronger now."

"It is my pleasure to help you, Sakura-san. Though you must continue to eat well and rest a great deal. You seem fatigued."

"Yes, I didn't sleep very well last night. But breakfast is almost ready." Indeed the pots of fish and rice smelled wonderful.

"Very good, Sakura-san. Would you like to hear Lady Tsunade's response to your message?"

"Yes, please." Sakura realized she was drooling from the scent of the food and her stomach rumbled.

"She says:

_'Sakura, I have spoken with Naruto and he says you have two days to bring the ba-_[I'm sorry, Sakura-san, I can't say that word.]_ Bring Sasuke back home or he'll go there himself. He says two days, but I think you really only have one. Naruto believes in you but he is very impatient._

_Your reckless violence has made everything more difficult at the summit meeting with the daimyo._

_Katsuya says you were injured badly when you fought but she said your injury was from a high-power bolt of electricity and a concussion. That sounds consistent with an attack from Sasuke Uchiha. So which is it? Did the Iwa attack you and hurt you, or did the Uchiha? If the latter, just how different can he be if Katsuya had to save your life? You said he has changed. Explain yourself to Katsuya as if you were speaking to me, Sakura, or your situation is going to get even worse.'_

"Sakura-san, that is the end of the message."

Sakura winced. By "even worse" she could just imagine her mentor cracking her knuckles. "Thank you, Katsuya."

"Of course, but now you must answer Lady Tsunade's questions."

"Yes, Katsuya." Sakura stared at the steam from the rice. How to phrase this. She couldn't lie, whether by omission or by blurring facts. If she did, all of her injuries from the day before would seem like play time with a kitten. But she couldn't just hang Sasuke out to dry. If she wasn't careful Tsunade would assume he was still a murderous traitor. Even if she had retired as Hokage, the woman still wielded a lot of influence in Konoha.

Sakura sighed. "I'm sorry I tried to mislead you, Katsuya. The truth is I was reckless when I tried to free Sasuke. He didn't know it was me when he struck with his chidori. The blow threw me into a tree. But I know he is different because he helped me leave that place and brought me to this cottage. He has been helping me to recover in every way that he can. He sought medical care for me and brought these herbs and bandages from a nearby village. He has prepared food for me and lent me this kimono since my blouse was torn."

Sakura swallowed. Her voice had started to shake and for some reason there was a lump in her throat. She got to her feet and served herself a bowl of food. She blew on it and took a bite of her breakfast. It was hot and delicious. But the lump remained in her throat. She forced herself to chew and swallow, even though it ached painfully. Her eyes stung with tears but she was damned if she was going to cry. She ate another mouthful.

Finally when she felt she could breathe normally she cleared her throat. "Sasuke has been very kind to me. So far he does not intend to return to Konoha but he has told me he would not stop me if I tried to contact my team. I haven't been able to do it yet, but he did say that. That's why I say he's very different."

"I see," said Katsuya. "Sakura-san, I must ask, and I beg for your forgiveness for being out of line, I know it is not my place to pry about such things but I feel Lady Tsunade wishes to know this..."

"It's alright, Katsuya."

"Yes. Well, in light of your history with Sasuke Uchiha, a history that includes actions driven by feelings of friendship and devotion as well as feelings of anger and sorrow, I must ask you - what compels you to act now? What is your motive for staying with Sasuke for the time you requested? Sakura-san, I regret my impertinence but I must ask, do you still love Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sakura's chest felt tight. She could barely breathe. "I... I... We're... We're teammates. Or, we were and that..." Sakura had to stop to catch her breath.

"What is it, Sakura-san, what is wrong?"

"I... can't...figure it out! I keep asking myself what I'm doing here. What am I thinking? If you could just see him!" Sakura wiped angrily at the rebel tears slipping down her cheeks. "I keep saying the wrong thing and all of a sudden we're fighting and screaming at each other. I can't make myself stop because even while he's shouting at me, it's the most he's ever talked to me. And I just want to run up and kiss him!"

Sakura coughed to clear her throat. She used the back of a hand to wipe her eyes and nose. "And when he's being quiet and nice all I can think about is how mad I am. I just want to punch him as hard as I can and scream at him for what he did when we were kids!"

Sakura all but threw the bowl down on the ground and got to her feet. She sniffed hard and practically slapped herself as she wiped the remains of snot and tears. "nnGgghh! No, I'm not doing this." She took a hiccuping breath and shook her head sharply. "Katsuya, please believe me. I will master my emotions at the same time that I finish healing." She swallowed. "I swear, I am a kunoichi from Konoha and I am loyal to my Hokage."

-傷-

Sasuke has some issues too, it seems.

Reviews are the sweetness!


	7. Chapter 7

On the outside of the cottage Sasuke Uchiha closed his eyes. He crouched against the wall, listening carefully and feeling more paralyzed with every word.

He had left the cottage largely to get away from Sakura. There was really no purpose to checking the water traps so soon after pulling up the morning's catch. There wouldn't be any fish in them after being disturbed so recently. But when he got to the water's edge he could hear her voice from the night before ringing in his ears, accusing him of running away.

She only knew that he had changed. She didn't know why. And there was no way she could guess how much it would pain him to explain. But then she had told him about Naruto. His old foolish teammate was starting a family. He had Sakura's respect. He was the goddamn Hokage. Everything went to Naruto. And Sasuke berated himself for pretending to be angry about this. He wasn't. By the time he and Naruto had fought for the last time, Sasuke had more than recognized his growth. He saw that Naruto had gained considerable wisdom. Perhaps more than himself.

Sasuke had intended to return to the cottage to tell Sakura that he was glad of their growth, how the two of them had changed since the war. He had even determined that he would tell her, no matter how hard it was, about the family he had caused to die for his pride.

But at the cottage he had immediately detected a second chakra note. The genjutsu was still active so Sakura would have had to invite the second person. When he got closer (and hid his chakra) he realized it was not a human.

Once against the wall he heard Sakura trying to explain the changes in his character to Tsunade's slug summons. He realized he had left her a loophole to exploit in contacting Tsunade instead of her team in the field. But then she was talking about her feelings for him. About wanting to kiss as well as to punch...and Sasuke couldn't help but imagine both. He had to wonder why he had argued so viciously with her. Years ago she was never worth the bother. But now a few words one way made him irate and some the other way made him desperate for isolation.

And then she was crying. Sasuke couldn't move. He couldn't think. For a moment there was just a flood of memories - Sakura crying over him, thinking he was dead, Sakura taking his hand and Naruto's and marching into the chunin exam, Sakura holding him in the Forest of Death, calming him down from the maddening rush of power of the curse mark, Sakura feeding him an apple in the hospital, Sakura begging him to keep her at his side as he sought revenge, Sakura staring up at him in the remains of one of Orochimaru's lairs, Sakura trying to strike him down on a bridge but without the necessary killing intent for the task.

And then she declared her loyalty to Naruto. Naruto. Always Naruto.

But they were talking again. "Katsuya?"

"Yes, Sakura-san?"

"Do you know if Naruto sent word about this to Kakashi?"

The slug seemed to hesitate. Finally she spoke as if picking her words carefully. "I do not know what communication they have had. I believe Kakashi-san knows your absence is due to a ...fluid... situation. But, Sakura-san, it is Lord Hokage who wishes to be in contact with you most. Here."

Sasuke moved as softly as he could to a spot where there was a hole between two slats of wood. He could see Sakura had put on the kimono he handed her earlier. She was holding something that could have been a weapon. She handled it like a kunai.

Sakura gave a short laugh. "Hah this overkill. That Naruto. Diplomacy, my ass. He just wants to be at the center of everything."

"Lady Tsunade said that the Lord Hokage feels you will know when to use it."

"Sure, I think so. Please let them know I'm grateful."

"Of course, Sakura-san."

"Thank you again, Katsuya, for healing me and for contacting Lady Tsunade. You've been wonderful."

"Oh that's all right, Sakura-san. It is my pleasure. Good bye, then."

"Good bye, Katsuya."

There was a burst of smoke and the slug was gone. Sakura moved in her seat and Sasuke could see she was eating rice from a bowl. He had to admit he was hungry himself.

Sasuke remained in his crouched position weighing his next steps. He wanted carry on with his initial plans, but they seemed fraught now. Another shouting match with Sakura seemed abhorrent; he didn't have the energy for it and now that she mentioned kissing... But what if he told her his experiences and she cried? Sasuke thought he might prefer she hit him.

After a few minutes he stood up. He made up his mind. He headed to the door and stepped inside the cottage.

Sakura looked up from her bowl. Nothing seemed different or disturbed.

"No fish?"

For a second Sasuke had no idea what Sakura was talking about. Then he remembered. He picked up a bowl for his own breakfast. "No, it's getting too late in the morning."

He served himself and sat on the floor cross-legged. "You look better."

"Mh. I guess. I healed more of the damage so I should be just fine with at least another day of rest."

A lie, Sasuke thought. But digging at it would mean digging at the conversation he had overheard. "Another day?"

"Yes, it'll be several days before I have all my chakra back but at least with another night of sleep I should get enough back to be fine on my own. Right now I can't move very quickly or easily. I don't suppose you have anything like crutches?"

"Hn. No." He frowned as he ate. He wanted to be on his way. He was already packed but he couldn't leave Sakura. It hadn't even been 24 hours since the Iwa shinobi had first ambushed him, but he felt as though at any minute they might descend on his cottage.

"I'm sorry to be inconvenient. You really don't have to stay, Sasuke." Sakura sounded like she was going to say more but decided against it.

Sasuke thought there was something odd in her tone, like she was telling a lie. Like she didn't mean what she said. "Hn."

Sakura scratched her head and adjusted the kimono over her shoulders. It was too large for her but she had folded it just so, letting the sash close it tight. "I was considering going to the river to try to clean myself. Before the fight I was in the field for two days, so it's been three days without a bath."

Sasuke looked more closely at Sakura. There was grit on her hands and smears of dirt on her face. There was dried blood in her hair.

She coughed. "You don't have to stare, I know I'm a mess."

"No." He paused and Sakura looked at him sharply. He'd had an idea. "Not the river. You can bathe at the hot springs."

Sakura's eyes lit up. "There is a bathhouse near here?"

Sasuke wanted to clear his throat. Not exactly. "There are springs in the forest, no one lives there. Takes an hour to walk there."

Sakura looked confused for a moment. "Springs? Oh, you mean there are pools open to the air out in the forest? Oh... um..." Sakura blushed and stared into her bowl.

"You don't want to go?"

"Well, it's just..I mean...in the open..."

"I go there every other day."

Sakura shot a look at him, shock plain in her eyes. Sasuke suddenly wanted to see her blush a bit more.

"People from the village don't go there very often since there are cheap baths in the village. I think I'll go today." He paused, feeling amused at the stricken look on Sakura's face. "Bathing out in nature is supposed to be good for you, isn't it? But if you would rather stay here..."

Sasuke finally had to chuckle. Sakura's face was turning red as a hand gripped her kimono shut. She was clearly torn between wanting a bath and possibly leaving herself exposed. Hm, well she was the one who sat around in a bra, he thought. It wasn't like he didn't know what a naked woman looked like.

"There are several pools. Visitors over the years have put up stone walls between them so you'll be in one and I'll be in another. I'm not a pervert like Naruto so you don't have to worry about that."

Sakura's face had an interesting parade of emotions flow over it, from embarrassment to irritation. "I...I... you were just teasing me! You made it sound like everyone bathed together!"

"I didn't say anything, you just assumed that." Sasuke paused and then decided to dig in further. He found he was enjoying how Sakura's eyes seemed to spark. "Maybe you're the one who secretly wants to peek at the men's baths?"

"Whaa-at? NO! Don't be ridiculous!" Sakura folded her arms over her chest with a harumph.

"Hn." Sasuke finished his food while Sakura fidgeted in the over-sized kimono.

"I never would have thought..." Sakura sat on her ankles and looked around the cottage like she still couldn't understand what she was seeing.

"What is it?"

Sakura shook her head. "I don't really know. I guess, how much you've changed. You help people - you help _me_ - you cook and catch your food and..." She gave a small laugh. "You tease. Who are you and what have you done with the real Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasuke had meant to tell her. He was going to eat and then while he cleaned he would explain his life ever since the war. But the idea of bathing had changed that plan and he had been thinking of telling her along the way. But... Perhaps that could wait until later.

He pulled out a pole that he used to arrange the thatch on the roof. He handed it to Sakura to use as a walking stick. "I still have a temper. I still hate being told what to do." He reminded her.

"Heh, yeah." She took the pole and held it, as if checking its balance.

Sasuke got up and cleaned the remains of breakfast. He pulled out thick cloths that served as towels and handed one to Sakura. Then he picked out a change of clothing for himself and picked up a bar of soap. Sakura assembled a pack of bandages and wrapped them in the makeshift towel.

"You've changed too." He remarked. "A lot."

"Yeah?"

Sasuke had a feeling she knew but he told her what he saw anyway. "You're calmer and more determined." Somehow Sasuke found he was grinning. "You don't let me get away with my bullshit anymore."

Sakura snickered. "Back in Konoha the chunin and some of the jonin call me Bitch Queen." She looked at him with a smirk. "I don't let anyone get away with any bullshit."

Sasuke was a little taken aback. The old Sakura would have run away to hide, or cried in shame at such a name. Wouldn't she? "B-... really?"

Sakura shrugged and got to her feet, pushing off the pole. "I call myself that too, just to let them know I don't care what names they use as long as they get their shit together. You would be surprised how many shinobi can end up being lazy just because their Hokage sometimes acts like a knucklehead."

Sasuke laughed. "Well that hasn't changed."

Sakura smiled. "I don't think it ever could. No matter how much I yell at him."

They stood in the little cottage looking at each other, half smiles on their faces at the memory of a foolish blond genin with entirely too much energy.

"Shall we?"

"Lead the way."

Sasuke stepped out in front of Sakura and held the door open for her. She smiled to him as she walked by. The sense that Sakura was an adult slammed into him again.

"By the way," she said to him over her shoulder. "Naruto got some of that perverted crap under control." She giggled. "Two years ago he tried one of his stunts to sneak into the women's showers. I was absolutely going to clobber him but Hinata was closer. Let me tell you, never ever startle a Hyuuga. She not only sent him through a wall, she nearly disabled his entire chakra network!"

Sasuke caught up with Sakura. They set off at a slow pace, with Sakura leaning on pole. "And that cured Naruto of his bad habits?"

"No, not really. But he stopped trying to sneak peeks all the time. I think Hinata might have said something to him while he was in the hospital that let him know she didn't appreciate it. Or maybe once they were having sex he was finally satisfied."

Sasuke couldn't help choking slightly at Sakura's matter of fact tone. His eyes went wide and it took a moment to register that Sakura was giggling at him. "Hmph. I don't see why I needed to know that."

Sakura laughed all the louder. "I got you!" She sang out.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but he knew there would be color on his cheeks. He supposed he deserved it. Although he very much did not want the visual in his head.

Sakura's giggles finally calmed down. "When he became Hokage he realized he would be followed by ANBU everywhere and turned running away from them into a game. He would lose them and then he would go visiting. The ANBU always assumed the worst - that Naruto was kidnapped or unconscious or somehow in trouble. When they tracked him down they would jump in, kunai out." Sakura sounded exhasperated.

"He thought it was hilarious when he would be at a restaurant with Choji and Rock Lee and ANBU ninja would leap through the windows and scare everyone half to death. But after a week the restaurant owners and merchants whose stalls got trashed by ANBU sent their repair bills to Naruto. Then he started to get that it wasn't very funny."

"I take it he still finds other ways to..." Sasuke was going to say 'annoy people' but he changed his mind. "To keep things lively."

"Oh yeah, definitely." She chuckled. "I had to hold him down and Tsunade stood over him, making a fist, so he wouldn't make funny faces while the stone mason sketched his face for Hokage Mountain. A few months ago he snuck into Kakashi's apartment and switched out his Icha Icha books for books with the Icha Icha covers but blank pages. Kakashi was almost in tears trying to figure out where his copies - signed by Lord Jiraya - went!"

A few chuckles got away from Sasuke before he got hold of himself.

"Oh yeah! And last summer there was this noble lady who was staying in Konoha because of threats to her life. But we were having a heatwave the whole time. It wasn't bad enough that it was hot, but she just wouldn't stop complaining. Finally she tried to order Naruto to make it rain. 'Rain?' he said. 'You know, wet stuff...falls out of the sky!' she answered."

Sakura grinned. "We all knew what was gonna happen next. We barely had time to dive for cover when Naruto summoned a few hundred little toads to rain down on us. Damn, that lady screamed super loud." Sakura gave an evil little giggle. "And then she passed out."

"Hn." For someone who claimed to think pranks were stupid, Sakura certainly seemed to enjoy it when other people were the butt of Naruto's practical jokes.

"Naruto and Hinata got married almost two years ago." Sakura mused. "She's been great for him. He's calmed down so much, it's almost creepy. And I think Hinata got a little more bold when she started going out with him."

Sasuke glanced at Sakura. He wondered if she knew how she was grinning like she knew a private joke. Then she looked at him and Sasuke almost looked away.

"Do you ever... um.. Well, I guess it's kinda personal. I hope you don't mind. I mean, especially if you leave tomorrow..."

"What is it?"

"Well, do you ever think about that kind of thing? About kids and marriage and that kind of thing?"

Sasuke was dumbstruck. In a manner of speaking... His tongue felt stuck in his mouth. He looked away from Sakura and cleared his throat.

"Right...never mind. I mean, what's the point if you're just going to wander around all the time?" Sakura gave an uncomfortable laugh. "Sorry to pry... I guess, I just think about it more now. Hinanta's starting to get big and she's so excited. And when I go have dinner with them Naruto has a million questions - as if I know anything about raising babies!"

Sasuke was desperate to change the subject. "You seem to spend a lot of time at Naruto's side."

"Yeah, I guess. There's still a lot of people who don't want to back Naruto. A lot of them are just old farts who are stuck in their ways. But they can make a lot of trouble for him if they get the younger shinobi on their side. So I try to make sure people don't even think about it." Sakura grinned at him. "Are you starting to get why I'm the Bitch Queen of Konoha?"

"Hn. I'm more interested in how you became jonin."

Sasuke was sure he saw Sakura's grin falter. But she looked away quickly when a bird called. "Huh. Well... I guess I just kept going up the ladder, you know? I made chunin a month after my 14th birthday. It's really tricky to advance to jonin, of course. You have to get a bunch of recommendations." Sakura pressed her lips together and her eyes looked thoughtful. "I got several during and right after the war, but they were mostly for medical work. Lady Tsunade wanted to see what else I could do. When- I... Um. Well, I was 20 when I finally got the last recommendations to convince her."

Sakura lapsed into silence. Sasuke wondered what it was she was trying to avoid talking about. She had been so eager to detail Naruto's career, and particularly his extracurricular activities, but she dodged explaining the work she had done.

"The test is hell but... the recommendations pretty much prove you can pass. So I passed." Sakura stared up the road, lost in thought again.

They walked quietly for time. The forest noises were plentiful. Through the trees the sunlight was gaining strength in the midday.

After a time Sasuke took them on a narrower path. It trailed up a steep hillside. Sakura was laboring as she walked, even with both hands on the walking stick.

Sasuke went to Sakura's side and wordlessly took one of her hands off the walking stick and wrapped it around his upper arm. Sakura looked askance before her face relaxed into a smile. She was getting used to his acts of courtesy.

"We're almost there."

The road curved around the hill and for a time they were over the tree line. Sasuke turned and stopped. The forest laid out before them for miles, cut on one side by the river and in the distance was the roofs of the village. He pointed to a shadowed spot more than a mile away. "There used to be a couple of houses over there. It's just ruined char now. They burned down during the war. People in the village think it's haunted by the families who lived there and died in their homes."

Sakura's hand tightened on his bicep but she remained quiet. Sasuke turned them back and continued walking.

Soon the ground evened out and the trees became thin. After a few more minutes of walking they came to a clearing with a large outcropping of boulders. Surrounding the boulders were large pools of steaming water. Two of them had a wall of rocks stacked between them.

Another pool was tucked away behind a natural rock face and several short trees. Sasuke pointed to it. "That one is a lot cooler than the other two. People have left washbowls around there to bathe with. After you clean up there, you go over to the hot pools." He pointed to the first two pools.

"So... the first bathing pool _is _for everyone?" Sakura pulled away from him, nervousness lining her eyes.

"Aa. I'm going to walk over to the other side of these pools to make sure we're alone. I'll wait by this boulder over here. You can call me when you're done." He plucked the soap out from his kimono and passed it to Sakura.

Sakura nodded. "Okay." She walked to the bathing pool and set down the pole. She threw him a small smile and turned around.

Sasuke turned back to the path and went the long way around the rocks. He didn't know how other people did it when they came here but it didn't seem like it should be hard to give Sakura her privacy. He imagined her taking off the borrowed kimono, removing the bandages around her midsection, and then peeling off her bra... A dim warning went off in his head and he shut his eyes and shook his head. He didn't need to be thinking about that.

But the image of Sakura disrobing persisted as he tried to think of other things to think about. Sakura in the bath...no, no, not that. Sakura... in his bed? No! Sakura...holding onto him as they walked... perhaps. And wearing no clothing? No, no!

Sasuke forced himself to focus on the forest around him. He checked and checked again for any other chakra signals or evidence of other people, but there was none. For a moment he wondered if he was being reckless bringing Sakura here where they were exposed. Surely she could tolerate another day without a bath... But she had looked so piteous in the cottage.

It didn't matter. They were there now, there was no point in second guessing himself. And Sakura was smart. She understood the risk. If they were attacked she could probably hide while he drew away the enemy. Hopefully.

Sasuke frowned. This was something they should have talked about, rather than heading out, chatting about Naruto, as if they had no cares in the world. He asked himself yet again, what was he still doing there?

It was like... he was distracted. But, if he was being distracted from what he ought to be doing... what was it he ought to be doing?

He had reached the rough path that left the pools and meandered back into the forest. If he wanted he could leave. Was that what he ought to do? Why _was _he always leaving? Sasuke made an annoyed sound. He had been just fine with his transient life before Sakura showed up and got herself struck by his chidori.

Sasuke reminded himself that he had meant to finally tell Sakura about an episode where he hadn't wandered away, but had tried to set up roots and support someone other than himself. He still had to tell her. He took a deep breath. It wouldn't be easy.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called. Her voice was somewhat distant behind him and it matched the cadence of the woodland birds. "Sasuke! I'm done!"

Sasuke cleared his throat and turned back toward the pools. He would tell her as a way of explaining why he needed to be alone. She would understand when she heard, he thought. And then tomorrow she would be on her way back to her team and he would disappear off down some road. It would be best for both of them, he told himself.

Sakura walked from one pool to the next, dripping water from her hair. When she saw him she smiled broadly and Sasuke gave her back a small smile.

At the water's edge Sasuke stripped off his clothes and found an old water bowl that wasn't too damaged. He doused himself thoroughly. Sakura had left the soap out for him and he dunked it in the water. As he washed he let himself think about Sakura's questions. Who was he without his pride? If he wasn't a shinobi from Konoha, if he didn't take pride in the Uchiha name...who was he? Just like it had years ago, the realization that he could be whoever he wanted was bracing.

He was Sasuke Uchiha. And he would go where he wanted. He rinsed himself off and wrapped his kimono around himself. He went around to the pool opposite the one Sakura was headed to. There he laid out his things and sank into the hot water.

Above the sun was already bending toward the western horizon. In the distance he could hear a hawk cry as it attacked its prey. Panicked twitters told him it was wood thrushes, perhaps a colony in a tree.

Even though the wall was thick enough to keep people from seeing from one pool to the next, sound traveled over it quite well. He could hear splashing coming from Sakura's side. He let himself float and simply listen. After a minute Sakura giggled then more splashing.

Sasuke had an urge to go see what Sakura was doing. He knew it to be a bad idea at once. He found an underwater stone big enough to sit on and he accommodated himself on it. He did not need to leave that rock.

He sat back and let his thoughts drift away on the steam.

He was almost drifting right to sleep when a shadow loomed over him. "Hey!" He shouted and plunged his hands into the water to cover himself.

Sakura laughed. She wore his kimono which covered her all the way to her thighs. "Your shinobi reflexes are already getting dull, Sasuke. Just letting you know that I'm going back to the other pool for a bit."

"You didn't have to come over here to tell me that!"

"Hee-hee I can't believe I got this close. And don't worry, I can't see anything under the water anyway." Sakura walked away giggling.

Sasuke grumbled to himself. At the very least the person who was so concerned about her privacy should show some considerations for others!

He thought about what he could do in revenge. He wondered why he even cared. He wasn't really a prude, he had just reacted out of surprise, much the same way as Sakura had when she was healing herself that morning wearing only her bra. He had to admit it was a very nice sight.

Sasuke cleared his throat. He'd already ordered himself away from such thoughts.

After a time spent thinking about the direction he would head in tomorrow, Sasuke decided he was done in the water. He pulled himself out and dried himself off. From the other pool he could hear Sakura getting back in.

She called over, "Sasuke, are you getting out?"

"Aa. I'm done."

"Oh well, I'll just warm up a little-"

"No, take your time. I'll just sit right here." Sasuke had finished dressing and hopped on top of the wall. Without looking he settled and sat down, looking away from the pool where Sakura was.

Of course, Sakura screamed and splashed when she saw him, diving down until the water was just below here eyes. She seemed to calm down when she realized he wasn't going to turn back around. She moved around in the water and settled down.

Sasuke spoke without preamble. "I lost a second family. Three years ago. It was carelessness that led to it and my pride that took it away again."

Sasuke could feel Sakura's gaze on his back. In a way he was glad he wasn't looking at her as he spoke. "I tried to travel without spending time with people but sometimes I needed to stop in towns or do work for various people. I didn't care what I did for a while. And because of that I didn't care who I spent my time with. There were women eager to spend nights with me..."

Sasuke waited for Sakura to shout or curse or something. But all he heard was water lightly splashing on rocks. "They were willing and I didn't think about anything but my own pleasure. It made it so I didn't have to think about anyone else.

"I was in a country far away to the north. Lots of mountains up there. I ended up in a village with an animal market where I worked as the security for the market operator. I made sure no one caused too much trouble, the animals weren't stolen or killed and no one even considered robbing the owner of the market. It meant I lived in the town for three months. It was one of the places I stayed the longest. There was this girl, lady, I mean, named Meiko. She liked to come by with sake. We would drink too much and..." Sasuke stopped himself for a moment. Meiko. He remembered how her dark brown eyes would flash in irritation at him.

"Then one day she came to the market with her father and an uncle. She showed me her belly. I couldn't tell anything but I wasn't going to lie about being with her."

"You didn't run." Sakura's voice was hushed.

"Hn. We were married less than a week later." Sasuke felt cold. It had been so rushed but he had told himself it was for the best. If that was where he needed to settle down to start a family, so be it. Then he laughed. "We were not a good match. We argued about everything, or just ignored each other. After a few months I seriously thought about leaving. But she was starting to show."

"We lived with her family, her parents and her brother several miles away from the village. It was..." Sasuke wasn't sure how to continue that statement.

Sasuke watched a squirrel leap from branch to branch. "One night I felt my son kick. Meiko was absolutely certain it was a boy and..." Sasuke felt choked for a second. He forced himself to breathe. "I wanted a son. So I stayed."

Sasuke was keenly aware that he had never spoken about this to anyone. He could feel himself shaking but he pushed on. "I had to work but I didn't know anything about raising animals. Like I said, some people just steal the animals, especially when they're on the road to market. So I protected Meiko's father's animals when they were on the road. Usually it was pretty boring work. After the first couple times someone tried to hit us and I put them down they learned to leave us alone.

"But no matter how far away I seem to get, my name bends some ears. This family that hated Meiko's family, they were called Tohoku, heard that I was related to famous ninja. That's all they really knew. So they decided to hire extra muscle for the next raid." Sasuke made a face and closed his eyes.

"They came at us with serious weapons and fought almost at random. The idiots even killed a couple of the cows they were trying to steal. But there were a lot of Tohoku. And one of them put a sword in Meiko's brother's stomach. I went after that guy and he started yelling at me, smearing my name, insulting my family. He couldn't even know my family, but he called us filthy and worthless. So...I..." Sasuke sighed deeply and stared at the sky. Clouds were racing south, tinted on the west side with golds and oranges. "I killed almost all of them. Two of them got away.

"I got Meiko's brother, Hiroshi, to a doctor. He was barely able to survive. We thought we had a narrow miss. But we had to get the cattle to market. In the mountains, once winter descends no one can move. Selling the animals was the only way to earn money for food to last during winter. Meiko was getting far along and she didn't want me to go. But after that I couldn't leave her father to drive the animals and defend them by himself. We had a nasty fight about it, actually." Meiko could have a terribly sharp tongue when she wanted.

"She said I was cursed, that the Tohoku wouldn't have been so violent against her brother if they didn't know who I was. I screamed at her that it was because I was there, because I was an Uchiha, that her brother survived and we got most of the cattle back. Then she wouldn't talk to me anymore." Sasuke paused. He felt cold in his heart.

"So I went with her father. It was easy, completely without incident. It turns out he could have made the trip alone." Sasuke took a shaky breath. "If he had... If I had stayed with Meiko..."

Sakura was dressed and at his side on top of the wall. She spoke softly. "The Tohoku killed her?"

Sasuke nodded, unable to look at Sakura. "Everyone. Meiko's mother and brother, even the goatherd boy who had the bad luck to come in for a drink of water. Hayato, her father, was almost catatonic with grief. But he wouldn't let me attend the funeral.

"I left. On my way down the mountains there was a lake in the process of freezing over. That's where I threw away my weapons. That's where..." Sasuke's voice left him. His hands twitched on his crossed legs. He had seriously considered pitching himself into the lake.

"I'm sorry. It must feel like you always lose your family." She squatted next to him, knees at her chin.

"Hn. It was years ago."

"But I bet you still remember them. I know you still remember Itachi. And your parents."

A broken breath stole in and Sasuke realized he was closer to crying than he liked. He gripped his thighs under his hands tightly. "If I can't protect my family from idiot thugs then... what good am I?"

He felt warmth on one hand. Sakura lay her hand on his. She whispered, "You're protecting me."

"I'm being stupid." He responded. "I shouldn't have brought you up here where we're exposed." He looked at Sakura willing her to understand what a fool he was, but she didn't seem to accept that theory.

Her face lightened slightly. "And here I was just going to thank you profusely for bringing me here. You have no idea what a relief it is to feel clean again."

Sasuke felt his face move a faint step toward a smile. "Actually, I do know."

They were quiet for a moment. And then Sakura spoke softly, "thank you for telling me."

Sasuke nodded. "I've never really told anyone. But I've been meaning to tell you all day." He paused. "So you can understand why I have to stay alone and go my own way."

"Oh."

Sakura looked down at their hands for a long moment. "I guess you did have to think about kids and marriage, and I've been bringing up bad memories by talking about Naruto."

"No, it's okay. I like hearing about it. Just..." Sasuke sighed. It _was_ painful to hear that Naruto was doing so well. But it was also... In lieu of a smile, Sasuke looked at Sakura. "I think you expect that I still hate him, but I don't. I was actually passing by the village down the hill when I heard Naruto was made Hokage. I just wanted to hear more and more and eventually I just stayed in the cottage, fixing it up and helping the people in the village so I could hear about what he was doing."

A grin broke out over Sakura's face as she made a little noise of surprise. She chuckled and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?" She withdrew her hand. She was so close, and then she shivered. "There's a breeze up here and we still have wet hair. Let's go back before we both catch cold."

"Hn. Okay."

-傷-

This one was tough to write. But I have to move on. Reposted to correct errors.


	8. Chapter 8

Sasuke easily hopped off the wall and turned back to it. Sakura couldn't move so nimbly yet as she slowly climbed down the rock face. He went to give her a hand but she said, "I've got it," and jumped down the last couple feet.

They wrapped up their things in the spare cloths. Sakura had applied a new bandage to her side. She said the skin was healed but fragile and tender. She picked up her "walking stick" and they headed to the road back to the cottage.

They talked about this and that. Sasuke noted that the river brought trade and news from several different countries to the village. There were people who had settled in the village who were originally from other countries. And that was why the village barely recognized itself as belonging to the Land of Fire. Sakura talked about changes to Konoha and how several of their classmates had grown, who had become jonin and how they had distinguished themselves. Sasuke had heard several of the details before, but largely as rumors that couldn't be confirmed.

The afternoon was stretching out before them, just shy of sunset. Sasuke realized he was quite hungry and Sakura was slowing down, clinging to the pole.

Sasuke stopped Sakura and offered his back. "You look like you're going to fall over, let me carry you."

"Oh come on, I can do this." She tried to step around him but wobbled slightly and put her foot back down.

"I don't think you can. Just let me help you already." Sasuke felt impatient to get back to the cottage where they could rest in a less exposed place.

"Jeez, I have to walk slow and all of a sudden you treat me like an invalid." Sakura adjusted her pace and moved around Sasuke.

Sasuke frowned at her back. Why did she have to act so independently all the time? Didn't women like it when men did things for them?

But Sakura misjudged where she placed her pole and it rocked in her hands, pitching her off balance. She toppled over but before she could crash to the ground Sasuke got under her and wrapped her up in his arms. "Got you."

Sakura looked up at him from his shoulder. Her mouth opened slightly.

"Now will you let me help you?"

Sakura closed her mouth into a line. She moved to get out of his arms and Sasuke set her down. Finally she said, "How will I carry the pole back?"

Sasuke gave a laugh. "It's kind of pointless. We're leaving tomorrow. I won't need it again."

Sakura saw she had no more excuses and sighed.

Sasuke tucked away a smile and moved so Sakura could wrap her arms around his chest. He hoisted her legs around his hips and let her settle against him. He could feel her move against his back as she coiled an arm over his collarbone. Her breath fell on his neck as he set out and he tried not to think about it.

"As if you'd ever let me give you a piggy back ride if you were injured," she groused.

"Weren't you saying that you finally understood why your patients were grouchy when they couldn't move on their own?"

"Yeah, because it's making me grouchy too."

"Hn." Sasuke felt his stomach rumble and he picked up the pace. Afternoon insects were starting to come out. "Then talk about something that will take your mind off of it."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. What do you do for fun? Was there a party when Naruto become Hokage?"

"Heh there were lots of parties. And lots of drinking." Sasuke could feel Sakura shake her head. "I kinda went overboard with the drinking and ended up doing stupid things."

"Hn."

"Well, not that I ended up getting married or anything!" Sakura twisted lightly on his back. "I just went along with some stupid suggestions. Ugh..." She pressed her forehead to his shoulder.

"Like what?"

"Mhh...it's embarrassing!" Her voice was muffled in Sasuke's kimono.

Sasuke couldn't see how it was more foolish than his story but he stayed quiet.

Sakura put her chin on his shoulder. "I guess you know how drinking leads to bad choices... In this case Kiba, Ino and I were hanging out in a corner and." Sakura stiffened as if to force the words out. "Kiba dared Ino and me to kiss each other. Oh man... and then we did." She put her face back into Sasuke's shoulder.

She spoke into the cloth again. "Ino passed out soon after that and Kiba left. I don't know how I made it home. I remembered it happened in the middle of the next day and nearly screamed. I mean, Ino's pretty but I'm not... you know!"

Sakura sighed and relaxed. "So I figured out I should be more moderate about how much I drink, and I definitely shouldn't get too trashed around Kiba. Ino figured out she should date Kiba."

Sasuke grunted. "I don't drink as much as I used to." He had finally realized the direct connection between drinking and increased desire for female company three years ago. "And I always have several condoms with me."

Sakura lightly grumbled like she didn't need to think about that and adjust herself on his back. They were quiet for a time.

Then, "Sasuke?"

"Mh."

"Do you think... Do you... I mean..." Sakura sighed and turned her head so her breath fell on his neck. Sasuke felt goosebumps go up his arms and hoped they stayed out of sight. "Don't you want to see Naruto? At least one more time?"

Sasuke tightened his grip on Sakura's legs without meaning to. He hadn't expected her to ask that. "Hn. Not now." He answered. He had no idea when he would want to see his old idiot teammate.

"I see. Naruto still misses you, you know." Sakura said no more and wrapped both arms around his collarbone and lay her head on his shoulder. She muttered into his kimono, "I missed you."

"Hn."

They traveled the rest of the way in silence.

At the cottage Sasuke made dinner without a word. Sakura filled the silence with chatter about Naruto meeting with the other kage. They had gotten to know him during the war, although the new Tsutchikage was a captain at the time.

She frowned when describing the meeting where Naruto was introduced to the daimyo. She had a rather low opinion of the feudal lord. He apparently kept comparing Naruto to his father and finding him lacking. Listening to Sakura, Sasuke got the impression that she was far more upset by the daimyo's bad manners than Naruto was. But then Naruto had gotten used to people murmuring insults about him when he was quite small.

They ate their dinner sitting around the fire. At the end Sakura yawned and stretched. Saskue took their bowls and cleaned up. When he turned back he found Sakura had taken the spot where he had slept (or tried to) the night before.

"What are you doing?"

"Hm? I'm sorry to be a party pooper but I'm really tired."

"So lay down in the bed." Sasuke pointed to the pallet.

"No, that's okay, I'll sleep here."

"Don't be stupid, you need to lay down to sleep."

"Don't call me stupid. If you can sleep sitting up then so can I."

"I'll call you stupid if you're acting stupid. You're still recovering so you should sleep in the bed."

"It's stupid to try and tell me how to take care of myself, I'm the medic! You should sleep in the bed tonight." Sakura crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

"Tsch." Sasuke walked over to Sakura and towered over her. "Get into the bed, will you."

"No. You do it."

"Dammit, don't be so difficult. You're the one who needs the rest."

"I'll be fine."

Sasuke made an aggravated sound. He swooped down scooped Sakura up into his arms. She squealed and struggled as he carried her to the bed. He tried to lower her slowly but with the thrashing around he could barely hold onto her.

Sasuke had to move quickly to keep from dropping her. Twice he thought his hand may have fallen on a spot where it shouldn't, but then she was on the pallet and trying to throw him off. They wrestled for a moment and soon he had her pinned down at the hips, arms twisted away where they would have no leverage.

"Aren't you supposed to be super strong," he taunted.

Sakura growled at him. "Don't be-" She struggled again and Sasuke had to regain purchase, holding down her legs with his own.

"Until you're strong enough to beat me at wrestling, you have to take the bed."

Sasuke was positioned over Sakura. Petal pink hair fell away from her face and neck as she gazed up at him, breathing heavily. Pale skin had a slight flush of pink from exertion. It occurred to Sasuke that Sakura's lips could be fun to kiss. The column of her throat would be pleasant to suck on.

Her breath reached him and he felt desire grip him like a giant hand. He made himself be still as he looked into her eyes, the color of the forest in summer. Pushing himself away from her felt like hauling the heaviest weight he had ever lifted.

"Just stay here." His tone was rougher than necessary. He tossed the blanket over her and turned back to tidying up.

Sasuke could imagine Sakura boring holes into his back with her eyes but he refused to turn around. His stomach felt knotted as he prepared items for the morning. As he imagined it, they would have breakfast and then go their separate ways. It was for the best.

Wasn't it?

He happened to look toward Sakura as he was putting out the fire. She was lying on her side, watching him carefully. He held his breath and looked away. If he looked again he was going to join her on the pallet.

Sasuke wrapped up his nightly tasks and settled on his little nest in the corner. He closed his eyes and forced his mind into meditative stillness. It was going to be another long while before he could sleep.

-傷-

Okay there's a *slight* romantic edge to this. Because SasuSaku!

Reviews make my day!


	9. Chapter 9

Sakura's dreams immediately before she woke up were harrowing. She woke up tense, senses already studying her surroundings for any danger. Sasuke was still in his corner. He seemed asleep but as soon as she moved his eyes popped open.

They looked at each other silently for a moment. Sakura could remember the night before quite clearly. Sasuke had physically forced her to lay down on the pallet and had bodily pinned her in place. He seemed to be taking more opportunities to touch her. But that... He ended up right over her, looking for all the world like he was about to kiss her. And then he just pulled away.

Sakura let herself look away. She had more energy today. She could tell she wasn't at optimal strength yet, but as a doctor she would say the patient could check out of the hospital and go home for more rest & recuperation. Which was just as well.

"I can't help but feel something bad is coming." She said.

"Hn," answered Sasuke.

"And you still feel you need to go your own way?"

Sasuke was silent as he stood up and stretched. He glanced at her once and then stepped over to his pot and food stores.

Sakura stood up and prepared herself for the day, dry washing her face, straightening her clothes (including the borrowed kimono) and combing her hair with her fingers. She sat back down and pulled her hip holster to herself. It held several weapons and other supplies, including her gloves and hitaiate. She pulled these out and tugged them on.

The hiraishin that Katsuya had passed to her yesterday was tucked under her pillow. For various reasons she didn't want Sasuke to see it yet.

Sasuke boiled rice and laid out seaweed for onigiri. He set some water for tea. He pulled out a canvas bag and held it out to Sakura. "You can take any of the medicine Genmei gave me that you think you can use."

She tried not to make a face as she took the bag. Sasuke was tidying, clearly making final adjustments on what he would take and what he would leave behind. Sakura's sense of unease persisted.

"This is the kind of morning for bad news." Sakura remarked. She wanted to ask him. To beg him for another day alone. But her tongue felt thick in her mouth. She already had more time than she could ever have hoped for.

Sasuke handed her a rice ball. "We should hurry."

"What?"

"Eat quickly so we can go. I want to make sure you get to your team before anything happens. Then I'll go."

Her stomach tightened. He was so eager to leave her again. But still...Sakura frowned. "I appreciate your desire to see that I'm safe, but I am not going to run, Sasuke. If something is coming I will face it."

Sasuke looked at her sharply. "If you have to face it, face it with your team."

"Why can't you face it with me?"

"If any trouble comes for me, I deal with it alone, you shouldn't be part of it."

"What?"

"You said yourself you're not 100% yet. Anyway, if the Iwa shinobi come for me again then they're not going to be as easy as the two from the day before yesterday."

"Are you kidding me? After what you've seen that I can do you think I'm weak? You think that I will get in your way or something?"

"NO!" The tea kettle began to whistle. "Sakura, let the Iwa think I killed them. It'll be better for you and for Naruto. Let them chase me for a bit while you get back to Konoha. You'll be helping Naruto. You don't have to go around proving how strong you are all the time!"

"Says the guy who spent his teenage years forcing the world to see how strong he was...!"

Sasuke made a frustrated sound and turned to the boiling water.

It had been a while since Sakura felt a morning like this. Where everything looked right but felt wrong. She felt faintly sick. She truly did not want to let him go. But she was out of options. "I just..." She whispered. "It's been eight years. No, 12."

Sasuke gave her a cool look. How could look so insufferably unperturbed? How could none of this touch him? "Eat your rice," he said.

"It feels like that day." She muttered, half to herself. "I guess four and half years ago..." She couldn't stop the memories of that mission. It had been difficult for her and worse was the fact that everyone applauded her for what she did. She chewed on the rice ball and accepted the cup of tea from Sasuke.

"This was back when I was chunin. I actually got my final letter of recommendation out of it. There were three squads of us and we had to raid a stronghold of rogue shinobi. It was a large stone house with a tower that let them see for miles around. There were also lots of tents in the field around the house. They were supposed to have a weapon in the tower so we had to take it down first."

Sasuke settled down with his food and watched her quietly. Sakura was aware that she was talking as much to calm her nerves as to stall for time. It was a difficult to recount, but maybe that was fair after hearing Sasuke's story the day before.

She took a deep breath and continued. "We were going to attack from three different directions at the same time. But my squad got stuck in our fight. My captain was Shikamaru. Kiba was also on our team and in the fight they were knocked out and taken away by the enemy. Hinata and I were the only ones to get away. She wanted to get the guys back. But our mission orders were still to take the tower. It turned out the weapon was some kind of thing that focused ninjutsu attacks like lasers and could hit someone far away.

"Imagine being able to hit someone with a fireball from a mile away! I saw it do that and I thought I needed to take out the tower first to save the other other two teams. So I sent Hinata to track where they took Kiba and Shikamaru. I told her to keep an eye on the tower because I was going to take it down. When it fell she was supposed to send a flare into the sky so I could find her again."

Sakura paused. She had second guessed herself so many times and years later she was no more sure of what she should have done. She frowned and bit off a piece of her onigiri and took a swig of tea. "I realize it's not a great plan, but it's the best that I could come up with." Sakura sighed. There was no point in recounting the fight to get to the tower. She had brought every brutal tactic she knew and took no effort to be precise or measured. "I had to take down that tower, that's all that I cared about. We could chase down the enemy or find and heal our captured teammates later."

She finished her rice ball and washed it down with the last of the tea.

"You probably had to kill several people to get to the tower." Sasuke had a curious look on his face.

"Yes." There was no use being indirect. "I never got to check how many or anything. I just needed them out of my way. It turned out that the shinobi who-"

Sakura was interrupted by a shout outside, at some distance from the cottage. "OI. We know you're here, SASUKE UCHIHA! Show yourself now!"

Sakura froze. Damn, she had been hoping they had more time. Still, this opened a possibility she had almost given up on. It would require trusting Sasuke's new-found commitment to non-violence, but if he held to it...there was still a slim chance.

Sasuke spoke quietly. "The genjutsu is still up at least. We can probably figure out where they are and find a way around them. They can spend the day yelling at an illusion..."

"Don't mess with us, Uchiha! We know you're around here! Young Kouki here told us! And old Genmei says he's probably not lying, now that we've knocked out a couple of his teeth!"

Sasuke cursed softly.

"Come on out, Uchiha! You don't want to make an old lady cry, do you?"

Sasuke closed his eyes, lips set in a line. "Damn them." He hissed.

"Genmei is the healer lady?" Sakura spoke in a hushed tone.

"Yes."

"Wow she's really not going to like ninja after this, even you."

Sasuke gave her a black look.

Sakura smirked. Now the bastard couldn't run. She pulled the hiraishin out from under her pillow and got to her feet. "Let's do this."

Sasuke's eyes went wide. "You intend to fight them." Then he looked puzzled. "With that?"

Sakura held up the hiraishin. "This is not a weapon, it's a trump card. Lower the genjutsu and let's go meet the bastards." She strapped her thigh holster around her shredded pants and nodded to the door.

Sasuke looked distinctly unhappy but he stepped through. Sakura followed him. Out beyond the gate a four Iwa shinobi milled about, looking in different directions, but she could feel more chakra signals in the trees. She could count nine chakra signals in all. With the cottage at their back, they were effectively surrounded.

Sasuke's eyes focused on an old, stooped woman who stood pressed against an Iwa shinobi with a kunai to her throat. To one side of her was a young man who was perhaps 18, on his knees and held in place by his hair. His face was already swollen from a severe beating.

"Dammit," muttered Sasuke. "Fuck. This is not what I wanted."

Sakura instantly understood the difference between them. She knew exactly how much more capable she was when she had a team. Even one former teammate who was trying to embrace a more pacifistic life.

Sakura reached out and touched his arm. When Sasuke looked at her she smiled. "We can do this. I'll help you, and I promise I won't kill anyone. Please, Sasuke, lower the genjutsu."

Sasuke looked at her and swallowed. "Hn." She could feel him gather his chakra and go through the hand signs. "Kai!"

The Iwa shinobi stopped their milling at once, and focused on the two of them. The Iwa captain who held the kunai to Genmei's throat spoke, "Ah, you do have Haruno here. Well that makes things more interesting."

Their interest in her caught her slightly off guard but Sakura refused to show it. She called down to them, "What is your business here, Iwa? Why are you hurting those people?"

"These people?" The captain scoffed. "These people are from a village known to be harboring the rogue shinobi, Sasuke Uchiha. We had to be firm, but with enough encouragement they agreed to tell us where he lives."

"And what's it to you? Sasuke Uchiha is the concern of Konoha and this is the Land of Fire." Sakura couldn't help saying it. She knew it would rile some of the Iwa, but her whole case rested on this area being under the jurisdiction of Konoha shinobi.

Several Iwa did cry out, of course. There were curses and some called her a liar and a bitch. The Iwa captain raised his arm for calm.

"That's not a settled matter, Haruno. We say this is Land of Earth. And two of our Iwa shinobi turned up dead two days ago. We know they came here to investigate the rumor that we could find Uchiha here. When they didn't come back we suspected they found him." The captain locked eyes with Sasuke.

Sasuke looked back calmly.

The captain growled. "We demand recompense! We lost two of our friends! How will you make this up to us!"

"Your 'friends' were trespassing on Fire territory, they had no right to attack Sasuke and you have no right to demand him in recompense!" Sakura sensed that several of the Iwa shinobi positioned themselves to be ready to attack. She kept her pose calm. Her first interest was to keep Sasuke at her side and second was to get the kunai away from Genmei's throat.

But then the captain laughed. "You must think we're stupid! We don't need Sasuke if we have you! Our medics examined what was left of Kishi and Toshi. Your brutality is obvious and the way they died is clearly in keeping with what our bingo book says about you, not about Sasuke Uchiha!"

Sakura's blood ran cold. She hadn't quite anticipated that. She felt Sasuke adjust his weight next to her. She practically hear him thinking, "see, I told you so!" She clutched the hiraishin more tightly in her hand.

"This is the one chance you get, Sakura Haruno. Save the old lady and this idiot here," he gestured to Kouki. "We'll even give the Uchiha a few minutes head start before we start chasing him again." He gave a cold grin. "Not everyone here agrees with the treaty to stop hunting shinobi for their kekkei genkai."

Sakura could feel her anger rising. Maybe Sasuke wouldn't mind if she went back on her promise for this one asshole? She kept her face as cool as she could as she took two steps forward. As calmly as she could she asked, "What is your name? And what are you asking me to do?"

"You can call me Touru Hidaka. And isn't it obvious what I'm asking? Throw down all your weapons and surrender to us at once!"

"Well then," another voice called out. One that nearly made Sakura's legs shake with relief. "We can't have that, now can we?"

Kakashi stood several feet to Sakura's right. She recognized almost a dozen charka signals of Konoha shinobi arrayed around and behind her, facing the Iwa. It was the full complement of shinobi under Kakashi's command, with whom Sakura had been sent to keep an eye on the border.

Sasuke shot her a glance. Likely this only added to his growing list of terrible things happening today, but she couldn't help smiling. For once she knew something could go their way. If he would just have some faith.

-傷-

Did you know? Writers love reviews. It's good for our health. It's true!


	10. Chapter 10

Of course, as soon as Kakashi made himself known every single Iwa shinobi she could see pulled out a weapon and made themselves ready for battle. Several held up two fingers together for gathering chakra.

Sakura tossed her head and took a step forward. "There is no reason for weapons. There is no reason for fighting, Touru-san. And I refuse to take seriously anyone who beats up on villagers who don't know the first thing about fighting back properly."

Touru sneered at her. "No reason for weapons? Then what is that in your hand?"

"Hm. This?" Sakura held up the hiraishin. "This is not a weapon. It's a tool."

For the first time the healer woman moved and spoke up. "A ninja tool that is not a weapon? Oh please." She snorted.

Sakura pretended to study the hiraishin. It was true that it could hurt someone if she stabbed them with it, but that was true of a lot things that weren't designed to be weapons. The hiraishin were based on kunai knives but were too oddly balanced to work in battle. "Tools like this have several uses. This particular one has only ever served peace."

It was perhaps a stretch to put it that way.

Genmei sniffed like she wasn't impressed. "If it's really a tool for peace then give it to Sasuke. He's the only shinobi worth trusting."

Touru looked at her in shock. Sakura laughed at the old woman's confidence. If she only knew... But that did open a possibility. Yes, that could actually solve a problem or two.

"Alright, I will." Sakura turned back and held out the hiraishin to Sasuke. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kakashi place his hands in his pockets, a sly look in his eye. He knew what was going on.

Sasuke, of course, had no clue and didn't want to take it at first.

"You heard the lady, you're the only one she can trust here."

"What is it?" Sasuke demanded in a hiss.

Sakura pushed the hiraishin to Sasuke, handle first. There was text on the handle that he peered at. "A summons? No... What kind of jutsu is that?"

"Throw it at the ground and find out."

Sasuke glanced at her. "I didn't create the jutsu so I can't use it."

Sakura grinned. "You were trained in Konoha. The jutsu will recognize that particular note in your chakra. Trust me, try it out."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You swear this won't cause any violence or bring any suffering."

"I swear," she said automatically. At least, no one would end up physically suffering... what it would do to Sasuke's nerves was another matter.

Sasuke let out a long breath and relaxed. Around them shinobi followed suit, lowering their weapons, waiting to see what came next.

Sakura was impressed with herself. Somehow she managed to keep from bouncing up and down and doing a little dance. He was so close, so close!

Sasuke coiled his arm and flung the hiraishin at the ground a few feet away.

There was a puff of smoke followed by a flutter of a flame-print coat and a very loud, "What up, people! Naruto Uzumaki is in the HOUSE!"

-傷-

Sasuke watched the Iwa shinobi recoil. He stifled a groan. He noticed Kakashi was crouching to make a move. As the Iwa moved to protest, and some of them pulled out weapons, Sasuke saw his moment to strike.

The Iwa captain, Touru used his kunai to point at Naruto, screaming, "This isn't peace, it's an ambush!"

Two shuriken precisely thrown by Kakashi knocked the kunai from his grip and Sasuke raced forward. He collected Genmei in his arms and leaped back to his position beside Sakura. From the looks on the faces of the Iwa, most of them couldn't process everything at the speed at which it happened. It was just as well.

Sasuke gently set Genmei down. "Are you alright?"

"Am I...?" She scoffed. "Are you a fool? I thought you had left two days ago. Who cares what they do to an old woman! You are young, go live!"

Sasuke smiled. "I'm glad they didn't hurt you."

Genmei's face fell. "Well, yes, but they hurt Kouki pretty well. And they only brought me to keep him from dying, they wouldn't let me fix him properly. Not that he didn't have it coming, mind."

"Hn."

"Bastard!" Naruto's tone was joyful and Sasuke couldn't help but groan. "It was you, wasn't it! I can always tell who used my hiraishin! I knew you missed me!"

Large arms wrapped around Sasuke and he could feel himself tugged back into Naruto's embrace. He kicked and struggled. "Put me down, you idiot! Can't you see this is not the time!"

"Aw, alright, bastard. But only because that means you want a real hug at a better time!" Naruto let him go and Sasuke immediately straightened his kimono.

Genmei's eyes were wide in horror...and amusement. "Is that really...?"

"Yes, this is the Hokage." Sasuke supplied. And he IS a complete idiot, he thought.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto bellowed. He came at her with arms outstretched.

Sakura stopped him by holding up a hand. "Not now Lord Hokage, we have a situation to deal with."

Around them every Iwa shinobi had a weapon trained, but most of them were looking toward their captain quite uncomfortably. They knew Sasuke could give them a lot of trouble, but they never expected to be facing at least four of the strongest shinobi Konoha had ever produced, including the Hokage himself.

The captain swallowed as Naruto's gaze fell on him. "Hey. Wasn't that old lady over there just a second ago?"

The captain had dug out another kunai and put up two fingers to concentrate his chakra, but now he looked a little lost.

Kakashi spoke up. "Touru Hidaka, the captain there, brought her along with that younger guy there," he pointed to Kouki. "They're from the village and I guess Sasuke knows them pretty well. Touru-san has them to make Sasuke do what he wanted."

Anger appeared on Naruto's face. "They were hostages?"

Touru was unwilling to let Kakashi tell more of the story without Iwa input. "We believe this is the territory of the Land of Earth. The rogue ninja Sasuke Uchiha has been living here for some time and the village has been harboring him! When two of our shinobi tried to apprehend him she," he pointed to Sakura, "took them on and slaughtered them! We are here for justice!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Naruto spoke in a low tone that barely contained his anger. "What kind of justice can you demand when you're beating up people who aren't even ninja?"

The Iwa captain visibly trembled. "You-you can't tell us what justice is on Earth territory, you are the trespassers! Lord Hokage, as the ranking Iwa shinobi here, I must ask you, in the name of Lord Hidesaburo, the Fourth Tsutchikage, to withdraw peacefully. You must leave us your shinobi, Sakura Haruno to face justice for the murder of two of our own. Since you have Sasuke Uchiha there at your side there is no longer any need for us to take him into custody."

By the end of his speech Touru was no longer shaking, having convinced himself this course of action was sound. Instead Sasuke was beginning to shake. With fury. Absolutely no part of this should mean that Sakura was taken prisoner! This day was just a grab bag of crappy surprises. "You can't-"

"Sasuke." Kakashi spoke quietly but urgently. "A fight here will have disastrous consequences for the diplomats. It could mean another war."

"But they-"

"They have acted in bad faith from the beginning, I know. But the talks about the borders are nearly done. Let's not make it be for nothing."

Sasuke looked to Sakura. She stood a few feet away, closest to the Iwa out of the four of them. She looked a little startled by the turn of events and kept looking at Naruto.

Naruto appeared far too serious for Sasuke's comfort, something he never thought he would feel. He spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "The border treaty is almost finished. This is Fire territory."

There were cries of dismay and outright insult from the Iwa who didn't want to believe him. Naruto held out his hands. "The treaty is due to be signed tomorrow. One way or the other you'll get a copy and see that I'm telling the truth."

The Iwa captain was beginning to look nervous again. "We need some insurance, however. It may be signed tomorrow but it will take a few days for messengers to bring news from our Tsutchikage and daimyo. In that time all of your shinobi will be beyond our reach."

Sasuke was quickly learning to hate this Iwa captain. He was the one who couldn't be trusted!

"Are you sure." Sakura finally spoke, addressing Naruto. Her voice was soft so only they could hear it shake. "Are you sure it'll be signed soon, Naruto?"

"Yeah, definitely, Sakura-chan. This is definitely Fire territory."

Sakura nodded and raised her voice. "Very well, I know what I must do. " She walked slowly to the Iwa as she spoke. "If it will mean everyone puts their weapons away and no one gets hurt. Well, no one else..." she looked at Kouki. "Then I'll surrender to the Iwa until the messages arrive with the results of the treaty."

Sakura stopped a few feet shy of Touru. "I mean, now. Everyone put away your weapons." Her voice was iron.

Even as the Iwa did as she commanded Sasuke shouted, "No!" Off to the side he noted that Naruto stared at him in shock and Kakashi called to him to stand down, but he ignored them.

Sasuke got to Sakura's side just as Touru reached to take hold of her arm. Sasuke slapped his hand away. "No! This was not the plan! You can't go with them!"

Two Iwa shinobi appeared at either side of Touru hands beginning to fly through ninjutsu signs. He activated his Sharingan and prepared to gather his chakra to start up a chidori when Sakura turned and put both hands on his arms.

His focus went immediately to her face. She looked nervous, perhaps even scared. But as she looked into his eyes he thought her fear perhaps wasn't for herself but for him. In his periphery he saw the captain, Hidaki hold up a hand for his shinobi to stand down.

"I need to go, Sasuke. I really screwed this up two days ago. Please don't make it worse."

Sasuke stared at her, quite unsure of what he was feeling, what he wanted. "I...this isn't what I wanted."

"I know. You wanted to protect me. You wanted to protect everyone. Sasuke, you still can. Please, have some faith in Naruto and help him out."

"But... you know what they want, what they'll do to you...!" He hissed.

"If I know you and Naruto support me, then I can handle whatever the Iwa try to do." She smiled and the light in her eyes made him feel warm. "Thanks for taking care of me."

Sasuke couldn't bring himself to smile back. But he felt so good. He deactivated the Sharingan. He desperately didn't want to give her up yet. His hands landed around her waist and slipped around her back. He pulled her close and her arm slipped up over his back. Her lips were warm and soft. Her skin was sweet against his.

Someone pulled her arm off his back and someone else was pulling his hand away from her. They held on kissing until they were wrenched apart, Iwa shinobi dragging Sakura away and Kakashi and Naruto at his sides keeping him from chasing after.

* * *

And so my ode to anime romances... where after a long trial of being stuck together two people finally figure out they like each other and are immediately forced apart! Oh well, this story remains primarily a drama. Romance is a distant second.


	11. Chapter 11

Sasuke watched as the Iwa shinobi followed their captain and new prisoner. The men who held Kouki threw the younger man onto the ground at Sasuke's feet. Every nerve was alive and a familiar darkness ebbed around his heart.

Kouki struggled to his hands and knees in front of Sasuke, while Naruto called to him softly. "Hey, Sasuke. Let's back up a little bit and figure out how we can get Sakura-chan free ASAP."

Sasuke focused his gaze on Naruto. The blond was now a little bit taller than himself, and broader with lightly tanned skin. The scars on his face still made him look like he was permanently on the verge of smiling or laughing.

Kakashi gave Sasuke's arm one last squeeze before letting go, encouraging him to turn around and face the cottage. His old teacher had aged as well; he was thicker in the face and some of the tension that always seemed to swirl around him had eased away. "There's someone who wants your attention."

Genmei had approached them. She eyed the three men standing before her and looked to the injured one crouched behind them. "That was the young lady you needed me to fix up, eh? No wonder you were so desperate."

"Hn."

"No matter, we should go. I need to tend to that young fool behind you. I think he finally understands that shinobi matters are for shinobi alone." She gave Sasuke a heavy look. "I'd be lying if I said I felt safe to walk back to the village alone."

"Oh right, someone should..." Naruto began, but his voice trailed off as the old woman shrank back. "Oh, you would rather talk with the bastard. Right." He glanced at Sasuke and shrugged. "I gotta talk with my people here. Sasuke, you make sure you come and talk with me soon, okay? They're gonna put shackles on Sakura-chan and that's the kind of thing that puts her in a really bad mood, you know?"

Naruto nodded to Sasuke and Kakashi and headed toward the Konoha ninja hanging back in the trees beyond the cottage.

Kouki coughed and spat blood. "I'm sorry," he said in a hoarse whisper. "Sasuke-san. They came yesterday and threatened my parents. I tried to bargain with them but they were different from the others. That old guy from a couple days ago was more patient. They said if I came with them they'd leave my parents alone. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough to..." Kouki bent his arms in prostration and wept quietly.

"Your parents are alive?" Sasuke asked softly.

"They were when we left. I want to go see them right now."

Sasuke grunted. "You should. I'll take you to-"

"Sasuke," Kakashi interjected. "You really ought stay here and talk with Naruto. You and he can work best together to get Sakura free as quickly as possible. I will escort these two home. I swear I won't allow anything to happen to them."

Sasuke felt torn. Genmei frowned, making it clear that Sasuke was still the only shinobi she trusted. But he couldn't forget the look on Sakura's face as they pulled her away. It made him impatient. He told Genmei, "Kakashi is strong. He'll protect you."

The old woman looked at Kakashi uncertainly. "Are you sure?"

"Aa. He was my teacher. Go with him."

"Alright. Come on, Kouki-kun, get up. Let's go home and get you fixed up, huh?" With Genmei and Kakashi's help Kouki struggled to his feet. While his face was a bloody, swollen mess, his arms were bruised where he had tried to block attacks and it seemed that his ribs may have been broken.

Sasuke stopped them. "Kouki, if they came at you yesterday, why did it take till now to come here?"

The young man hesitated, then admitted. "I tried to lie to them. Someone said you were going to the West so I took them out of town that way. I sent them in all kinds of directions but they said they didn't 'feel' you. I tried to get away but they just found me again and beat me. They got Genmei-san to keep me from passing out or losing too much blood. This morning I couldn't take it any more. I'm sorry," he repeated.

"They wouldn't beat on me because I told them I would curse them!" Genmei cackled. "Curses are for fools but I do know a few herbs that will give them trouble in the bathroom for a week!"

"Hn. Thank you." Sasuke glanced at Kakashi.

The older man nodded and held out an arm to Genmei. She was pleased to take it. "Oh what a gentleman," she exclaimed. "Don't get any ideas, now. I have a poultice that can shrivel up your thing!"

"I would never," Kakashi responded. He turned and the trio headed back to the village. Kouki walked beside them, holding his side.

Sasuke turned back toward his cottage. Shinobi wearing Konoha gear were setting up camp around it, several of them giving him suspicious looks. Several dozen feet past them he could see Naruto talking with a jonin who looked vaguely familiar.

He shut out the dirty looks and walked past the shinobi who were making themselves at home around his cottage. Their speech instantly dropped to whispers as he passed. But he could make out that quite a few of them were impatient to attack the Iwa to get Sakura free. Argument that the Hokage must be planning something was hushed when the speakers noticed Sasuke.

There were also mutters of "traitor," "damned Uchiha," and other such things. Sasuke forced himself to keep walking, feeling like he was making his way through a gauntlet that echoed with insults.

But when he heard "the Bitch Queen shacked up with the traitor" he couldn't help stopping and staring at the man who said it. Around him the shinobi tensed. Silence fell like a thick, solid thing as he locked eyes with a young chunin.

"Alright, alright that's enough!" A matching bark made everyone look to one side and see a tall jonin in a leather jacket and red marks on his face. At his side was a gangly shinobi in an ugly green leotard and equally hideous bowl cut for a hairstyle.

"Hn. Kiba. Rock Lee."

"That is correct, Sasuke-kun! Our teams have been keeping an eye on the border while Lord Hokage works toward a diplomatic end to these troubles!"

"But Captain Kiba!" Protested another man standing beside the chunin who had caused Sasuke to stop. "We can totally take on the Iwa camp! There's more of us and you saw them - we're way stronger, especially with Lord Hokage here!"

"Tsch. Give it up, Shiro." Sneered the first chunin. "The Bitch Queen decided to give herself up." He looked Sasuke up and down. "She's right where she wants to be."

Even Shiro looked at his friend askance and hissed a surprised, "Kenjiro!"

"You guys can just back off." Kiba gave the chunin facing Sasuke a fierce look. "Your Hokage already said to trust him. If you don't trust the Lord Hokage then you can answer to me."

Several of the ninja were startled enough to back away but the chunin in question spat on the ground before turning around.

"That's just Kenjiro. He's still sore from six months ago when Sakura broke his jaw," Kiba remarked.

"I regret, Sasuke-kun, that you will receive many such unfortunate receptions. But if Sakura-san feels that you are changed for the better then I have faith in her assessment!"

"Hn." So they had gotten word from Sakura as well.

"Idiot," growled Kiba. "What we know from Sakura is totally indirect," he told Sasuke. And then he muttered to Rock Lee, without particularly trying to hide it, "and it was supposed to be confidential."

"Oh, that is true, Kiba-kun. Even Naruto-kun could not speak with Sakura-san directly." Rock Lee had his usual, painfully earnest face on, though it seemed less naive, it had lost none of its innocence. "Clearly Sakura-san prefers you after sharing close quarters!"

Kiba rolled his eyes and turned turned to where Naruto was still speaking with a brown-haired man. "Have you met Captain Yamato?"

The name sounded familiar to Sasuke but he couldn't place it. They began walking toward Naruto. Perhaps he encountered him at some point during the war.

Naruto and Yamato turned to Sasuke as they approached. Yamato eyed him carefully and Sasuke understood he was trying to see the changed man that Sakura and Naruto had talked about. That was when Sasuke remembered where he had seen the older man before. "You were there with them, taking Kakashi's place when they blew up Orochimaru's den."

"Yes." Yamato said. "You have a different look on your face now. Maybe you won't stab me this time."

Sasuke took a long breath without letting his gaze fall from Yamato's. "Probably not." He answered quietly. Was every encounter going to be this difficult?

He turned to Naruto. "How are you going to get Sakura out of there immediately?"

"Well actually..." Naruto stretched up an arm and scratched the back of his head. "I kinda need to persuade the daimyo to sign that stupid treaty right away."

"You said you were sure it would be signed!" Sasuke grabbed Naruto at the labels of his coat and hauled him close.

"Hey! Hey!" Shouted Yamato and Kiba.

"It will be, you bastard!" Naruto struggled to push Sasuke off. "I just want it to be tomorrow and the Earth daimyo wants to do it in a week!"

They managed to force Sasuke to let go. "You told Sakura...!"

"I told Sakura-chan 'soon' I didn't know that meant she would give up to the Iwa jerks! There's a lot going on here that I couldn't-"

"You don't understand, you idiot!"

"Oi, oi" called out Kiba, "let's take this inside." He nodded to the cottage. "We're making everyone nervous."

Around them Konoha shinobi had stopped their work and were staring openly as their Hokage got into a shouting match with a man who as recently as 20 minutes earlier had been considered a dangerous rogue.

"Right," agreed Naruto.

"Hn." Sasuke walked beside Naruto. He got the feeling that they both felt restless. He wondered: If they were a few years younger could he convince Naruto to invade the Iwa camps and free Sakura? That was reckless and it would be horribly irresponsible for the Hokage to even consider it...but it was the kind of thing Sasuke suspected Naruto would be excited to do before he remembered the greater needs of his country.

"Hey bastard," Naruto sniffed at the pot hanging over a smoldering fire. "It looks like your breakfast is all mush and your tea is cold."

"We were interrupted."

"Man, you lived in here?" Kiba looked around. "It's super cramped." Beside him Akamaru whined.

"Ah, this is where Sakura-san slept. And this is her shirt. I see why she wore a man's kimono." Rock Lee poked at the bed.

"Leave that alone." Sasuke made a face. He was even more restless with four grown men and a large dog shoved in his cottage.

"Lord Hokage," Yamato called from the door. "This is too cramped for all of us. I will be out here with the others if you need me."

"Yes, Lord Hokage, I do not believe I can aid you from here. I will be outside as well securing the perimeter of our camp." Rock Lee exited.

"Yeah, I didn't get a chance to report in yet." Kiba glanced at Sasuke and then continued speaking to Naruto. "The Iwa shinobi have a launching point about a half hour to the south from here. The river bends there, and they built a small dock to let them take boats back and forth without anyone knowing. They set up a camp there and Akamaru and me saw them coming up here this morning."

Sasuke fidgeted. "They're going to take her. If she's in Land of Earth getting her back won't be so easy."

"Why do you think they're gonna take Sakura-chan instead of holding her till we can get a copy of the treaty down here?"

That was an insightful question from Naruto. Sasuke was somewhat shocked. "They say they want justice but think about what they will be free to do if they find her guilty. Any Earth Country judge who doesn't have that new treaty will call her a murderer and then the Iwa will start torturing her right away for any Konoha secrets they can get out of her."

Kiba ground his teeth and Akamaru growled. "You're sure they'll try to torture her?"

"Nothing short of that will work. One of the shinobi she killed was a very skilled genjutsu user. She found him trying to get me to give him secrets on how to infiltrate Konoha." Sasuke looked Naruto in the eye. "That was why Sakura got involved in the first place."

"Dammit," growled Naruto. "Why didn't she say that in the messages? She just made it sound like the Iwa caught you because you're a rogue."

Kiba groaned that Lady Tsunade had said to keep contact between Sakura and Naruto a secret and here he was telling Sasuke everything.

Naruto laughed and said he never expected to be able to keep it completely secret. Kiba responded that when either of the women got angry with them he would tell them it was all Naruto's idea.

Sasuke could finally see Sakura's game plan laid out before him. On one side she was trying to force him to act rather than run away and on the other side she was trying to make sure that Konoha gave him enough room that he didn't feel cornered. If Naruto and others had known that Konoha itself was threatened with possible invasion they would have descended on the cottage immediately.

And he would have run just as immediately.

Sasuke bent to put ashes on the remaining embers of the fire, and in so doing he hid a smile. He had to admit that was an elegant plan. For the first time he wondered how much of her feelings were true and how much were feigned to serve her plan. She had felt true when she had kissed him back.

"I see you were packing to get out of here, bastard."

Sasuke grunted. "Sakura and I agreed as soon as she was well enough to rejoin her team we would go our separate ways again. We thought that would happen as soon as we finished our breakfast." And we both thought that was the terrible thing hanging over us, he thought.

"But you're still here." Naruto spoke quietly.

Sasuke looked at him and fought back the urge to scowl.

"You're kinda stuck, huh?" Naruto gave a grin that managed to be melancholic. "I knew if you really got to know her - and if she didn't punch you through a mountain - you'd really like her."

"I swore I'd protect her."

"Yeeaaahh," muttered Kiba. "I need to learn the kind of protecting that involves kissing pretty girls."

Sasuke gave him a dirty look and mentally calculated the fastest way to knock him unconscious.

"What?! You kissed her in front of everyone! Rock Lee back there nearly had a seizure!"

"Tsch." To Naruto he said, "I just want her to be fine. Everything else is besides the point."

"Yeah, okay." Naruto sat down cross-legged. "But you should know by now that Sakura is probably okay no matter what. None of the Iwa shinobi I saw could be a problem for her. She's too smart and waayy too strong."

There was a knock at the door and Kakashi's quiet voice.

"Yeah, come in," called Naruto.

Sasuke was again surprised at how well Naruto handled the formalities of being Hokage. He had always been such a casual person and now people called him "Lord Hokage" and didn't interrupt when he spoke... It made Sasuke increasingly impatient.

Kakashi glanced around the inside of the cottage but kept his thoughts to himself. "The villagers are safe in their homes. Kouki's family is alive and relieved to have him back."

"Good." Sasuke and Naruto said in unison.

"Well I told you what I know, Naruto. If you need me I'll be outside too." Kiba made his way outside, Akamaru at his heels.

Sasuke stared after Kiba as he exited and narrowed his eyes.

"What is it? Why are you staring at Kiba?" Naruto asked.

"Hn. Sakura had started to tell me about a mission she was on where Kiba was taken prisoner. But she didn't finish the story."

Naruto and Kakashi exchanged glances. Naruto spoke. "Was it one where there was a tower with a crazy powerful ninja tool?"

"I think so."

Naruto swallowed. "Eehhh... You're probably better off asking Sakura to finish the story. It was a tough one for her. But you gotta remember, she did more than anyone expected her to. She was pretty awesome, and she saved Kiba's life, and probably lots of other people too. But she..."

"Naruto," Kakashi said softly.

"Yeah. Just ask her yourself." Naruto repeated.

Sasuke looked between Kakashi and Naruto. Kakashi sat down on the edge of the pallet opposite Naruto.

Sasuke sat down perpendicular to them. "I know most of the Konoha shinobi here don't like me, but how are they with Sakura?"

His question seemed to catch them off guard. Naruto seemed completely unsure of how to answer. "Ehh, um..."

"Well," attempted Kakashi. "You know, Sakura...well, Sakura is Sakura."

"Yeah! that's right! Sakura-chan is Sakura-chan!" Naruto agreed.

Sasuke made a face. How very helpful. "I heard they call her 'Bitch Queen'."

Naruto twisted and squirmed while Kakashi played with his gloves. "Yeah, I guess some of them do. I don't hear it too often, though." Naruto declared.

"Sakura..." Kakashi sighed. "She's very strong, and very loyal to Naruto and Konoha. And frankly to you as well, Sasuke. When she finds someone who isn't pulling their weight for Konoha or for Naruto she very...ah...firm when she says so."

"That's why she's my right hand man! Uh, woman. She gets shit done, for sure!" Naruto bounced in his seat. "She strong and tough, that's why she's one of the best from Konoha!"

"It also makes her very proud," added Kakashi. He mused as if talking to himself, "she really doesn't like to accept help from anyone."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed in a more subdued tone. "That too."


	12. Chapter 12

Naruto turned to Sasuke. He had an intense look on his face. "Sakura-chan has always been someone I can trust and rely on. This is the first time I can't do what I was planning because of her."

"What do you mean?"

Kakashi spoke. "Sakura was supposed to report back to me two nights ago. I was going to send her up to the daimyo's palace to meet Naruto. When she didn't check in it was Naruto who let me know why. Apparently she had contacted Lady Tsunade with this situation." Kakashi gestured around himself at the cottage. Sasuke grunted, he already knew all of that. "He also told me to keep my distance for two days." Kakashi's eye was calm but Sasuke knew perfectly well it noticed every detail.

"You found my cottage right away."

"I found the field where Sakura fought the Iwa shinobi right away. We found your genjutsu after that."

"Hn." Sasuke could imagine his teacher contemplating just what the space he granted Sakura had allowed. "And yesterday?"

Kakashi glanced at Naruto. "Once I was sure there weren't any foreign shinobi around who could be a problem I told everyone to keep clear while you and Sakura went for a walk. I imagined you would keep a look out for shinobi, but probably not for pug who can hide his own chakra. Pakkun had orders to stay far out of your way and let me know if you were in trouble."

Sasuke felt a muscle in his jaw jump. What had the dog heard?

"Nothing Pakkun reported to me indicated you were keeping her against her will. He said she was recovering from injury. He said you helped her when she became too weak to walk on her own."

Sasuke was silent, staring hard at his former teacher.

Kakashi sighed. "He could hear some of your conversation, but since it was of a private nature we decided not to share the details with anyone else."

Sasuke's forehead twitched. It wasn't quite noon yet and already this day was turning out to be extremely aggravating. "Alright, so what does it mean that Sakura couldn't join Naruto?"

Naruto looked back and forth between Kakashi and Sasuke, aware there was information to which he wasn't privy, and yet would be fascinating to know. When neither one looked at him or moved to explain he grumped and answered Sasuke's question, "The way things are going it means it'll take another week for the treaty to get signed. When Sakura's around people act fast. They don't want her mad at them, and that includes the daimyo!"

"But in this case the Land of Earth needs that week to pressure the daimyo of the Land of Fire," Kakashi added. "There is territory to the West that they want to claim as well, but would take away a chunk of our border with the Land of Wind."

"Yeah, signing the treaty the way it stands right now is the best for everyone. But the Earth daimyo wants a lot more territory and the Tsutchikage is happy to start a fight over it."

Sasuke gritted his teeth. This was a distraction, something completely unrelated to finishing the task before them. "Who cares about land, Sakura is-"

"A kunoichi of Konohagakure," Kakashi finished. "Konoha values this territory as important to the continued friendship with Sunagakure. Letting it go so easily would insult our allies in Suna. A few years ago when we cemented our bonds it was Sakura and Naruto who pushed to define that Fire territory as shared for the purposes of joint training and patrols."

"It's the only place me and Gaara can spar! We learn a lot from each other there. And that's why the Tsutchikage would love to take it from us." Naruto looked intent, like he was determined to solve this puzzle.

"So it would be slightly more convenient for Konoha if Sakura were there." Sasuke felt his rage build up again. "But since she is a prisoner of the Iwa a delay in settling the treaty means she will be taken away for torture. And if she's taken away for torture then they can delay the treaty." He wanted to smash something. No. He wanted to charge on the Iwa and kill everyone in sight until Sakura was at his side.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Clearly I missed something. Torture her?"

"Yeah. Bastard says that the Iwa who caught him wanted secrets about Konoha. And Kiba told me they have boats to get across the river not too far from here."

"Ah. So if they had Sasuke they would take his Sharingan and secrets about Konoha, and with Sakura they get Konoha secrets and more territory for their daimyo." Kakashi had an obvious frown under his mask.

Sasuke could no longer sit still. He pulled his feet under him and stood. "Then why are we still here?"

"We could go in there and kill all of them, that's true." Naruto spoke while sitting perfectly still, eyes closed. How was this the same Naruto that he grew up with? Sasuke started to see how he had startled Sakura so much by the change to his personality.

Naruto opened his eyes and wore a small grin. "Five years ago I think I would have said let's just charge their camp and make sure that Sakura-chan is safe and sound." Naruto let a smile linger on his face as if remembering good old days. "And I know a lot of the guys outside want to do the same thing to chase the Iwa back over the river."

Then he sobered. "But at the daimyo's palace they would rip up the treaty and Iwa would have a good reason to invade the Land of Fire. The Tsutchikage wants to prove himself to the daimyo of the Land of Earth and he thinks he has to do it by starting another war."

"This territory, that village that you like will all become a battleground." Kakashi added.

Sasuke growled, "They want to torture Sakura! Do you want to let them?!"

"No!" Naruto's hands twitched, giving away that he wasn't as calm as he wanted to project. "I need to get that treaty signed."

"Tsch." Sasuke turned to leave. If these idiots wanted to wait on a damned piece of paper then it would just be up to him. He could not let this happen again. She was in trouble, and he could not fail another precious person again...

"I need your help."

"What?" Sasuke stopped with his hand on the door.

"I told you. Sakura-chan always got shit done. No one wants to argue with her when she lays down the law. You ever notice no one wants to argue with you? You're the same, like that."

Sasuke made a face. "You're saying I scare people."

"Yeah! You do! Only..." Naruto shuddered. "Don't tell Sakura-chan I said that."

From the look on Kakashi's face even he was unsure of Naruto's ploy. "You want to take Sasuke to the daimyo's palace with you?"

"Yes." Naruto gazed up at Sasuke. "Will you help me? We can get the daimyo to sign the treaty first thing in the morning and have Sakura-chan back here by lunch time."

That sounded hugely implausible to Sasuke. Also, he was starting to feel a bit used. He understood Sakura's plan to make him take a stand. And perhaps he didn't mind it as much because it was Sakura's plan. But standing at Naruto's side as some kind enforcer...? That was not how he had ever envisioned himself.

"Sasuke, you should understand a little of how Konoha has changed since the war. And how the Five Nations are changing since Naruto became Hokage. Naruto is trying to change the world."

"Uh well, I guess I am trying." Naruto blushed and scratched his head. "I just can't let things get so crazy all the time. We both saw what war is like and I can't let it happen again. I figured out how hatred and resentment makes it all happen, and I learned that from watching you, you bastard. And that's why I figure, who knows the price of war better than you?"

Sasuke studied Naruto's face and then Kakashi's. Finally he spoke. "Out in the world they hate shinobi for the wars we bring." A shiver went down his spine. He hadn't meant to say 'we.' "The village where Genmei lives is half the size it used to be before the war. I think I am more like them. I hate shinobi too."

"That is a conundrum." Kakashi remarked.

"Hn."

"You hate what you are, bastard? Then change what it means to be a shinobi. Instead of making people think of killing and destroying, make them think of the will to do the work it takes to change the world."

Sasuke made a fist. A diplomatic mission was the last place he belonged. "How will I do that when everyone is afraid of me? They only know what I did years ago. Why would anyone listen to me?"

Naruto got to his feet and walked to Sasuke. "They'll listen to you because I listened to you." He put a hand around Sasuke's fist. "I started listening to you way back when we were kids. Remember that fight in Final Valley? I've never forgotten it."

Sasuke wanted to push Naruto out of the way and walk out of the cottage and never look back. But he didn't dare back down from the look in Naruto's eye. It forced him to remember. Naruto continued. "I haven't forgotten a single one of our fights, and especially not the last one."

Sasuke could only see Naruto's eyes, they way they glittered. He could recall the smell of smoke and dust and ozone from his chidori. Even now he could feel an ache in his eyes from how hard he had pushed his Sharingan. And he knew then as he knew now that Naruto probably understood more about him anyone living did. More than anyone, Naruto grasped the powerful pain in his heart and unlike anyone, Naruto accepted it as it was.

"I learned a lot from you because of that I started to understand other people better. Anywhere out in the world that I went, when I saw people frustrated and angry I could see they were also suffering. They suffered like you did. I'll make them listen, I'll make them see you have already been there.

"To handle this right I need your help." Blue eyes, hopeful and completely free of guile stared into his own. "You're the guy, Sasuke."

Sasuke's felt a muscle in jaw pop. Back then, when the thought came to him that Naruto could be someone who changed the world, who could relieve some of the pain in his heart, Sasuke had run. This time, as the same thought ran through his mind, he recalled Sakura's words, "have some faith in Naruto and help him out." Was this what she meant? Had she planned things out this far? He shook his hand out of Naruto's grasp.

Naruto leaned in and spoke softly. Sasuke noticed that the way they were positioned Kakashi would have a hard time overhearing or reading his lips. He said, "I never told anyone, not even Sakura-chan, what you said. But I'm glad you said it, bastard."

Naruto stood back and grinned. "That's all. I'm gonna go get Kiba and the others to block the Iwa from crossing the river. We can hold them for maybe a day. Any longer and they will probably fight. Think about helping out me and Sakura-chan." Naruto pulled open the door. "Let me know so we can get started."

Naruto exited and Kakashi got to his feet to follow. He paused for a moment at the door and gave Sasuke a careful look. But he left without another word. Sasuke was left alone in his tiny cottage with his thoughts.

His mind was in turmoil so he set his hands to the usual busywork of cleaning. Help Naruto? What business did he have helping Naruto? Why should he? He had always said Konoha had no claims on him.

Sasuke looked down at his hands. He could feel the exact shape of Sakura's palm as it lay on his hand after hearing about Meiko. She didn't try to hug him or otherwise hold him. She didn't try to tell him she understood. She just quietly let him know she was at his side.

He had started his day trying mightily to think of traveling and once again being on his own, an uninteresting man on a dusty road between mighty nations. He tried to clear his head of how easily he had gotten used to Sakura's presence and how comfortable he found himself around her. What thin connection had started to build between them he was desperate to undo. And then... he couldn't let her go. He just...couldn't.

Sasuke dumped out the wasted tea and ruined rice balls. He straightened his pallet and remade the pile of medicine Genmei had given him. It occurred to him that the Iwa shinobi didn't know Sakura was injured and it was perhaps best if it stayed that way.

He picked up a pack of bandages and had another thought...

-傷-

The noon sun rose high overhead and Sasuke stared down from his vantage point at the top of the tallest tree he could find. Two Konoha squads casually stepped out beside the Iwa shinobi contingent headed back to camp. There were two carts pulled by cattle. With his Sharingan he could see bars around the sides of one and a chakra aura that could only be Sakura's.

His hand flexed as he ached to dive in and destroy the cage she was in. He forced his hands into his pockets and continued to watch. Kiba led the squads and took a jocular attitude while reminding Captain Touru that Konoha would not like it if he left the Land of Fire quite so quickly.

Sasuke could see the groups of shinobi standing tensely. Here and there one or two Iwa would try to go around, but Konoha ninja easily cut them off.

After a short time they seemed to come to an agreement and the Iwa were allowed to proceed to an encampment at a point where the river made a sharp turn. Sasuke guessed that hidden among the trees and marshes was enough material to spring up a jetty and that the two carts could convert into small boats.

He kept his eyes trained on the cage but it was lifted off the cart and carried by four men into a large tent. Two of the men remained inside. Presumably they would stand guard. The other two took up positions outside the tent. Sasuke watched as Touru stepped into the tent. While he was in there Sasuke saw the guards flinch twice. He couldn't hear what was happening but he could guess the Iwa captain had received an earful from Sakura.

When Touru stepped out of the tent his face seemed a little more red than when he had first gone in. Sasuke smirked.

Sasuke was aware that he wasn't alone. He said nothing to Kakashi because he had nothing to say. Some hundred feet away Kiba's squad was setting up camp. Sasuke could see Naruto talking with him.

Kakashi finally broke the silence. "Long time, no see, Sasuke."

Sasuke let silence hang for a moment, then, "That's how I wanted it."

"Good to know that hasn't changed, at least."

"Hn."

"So. I heard you were caught by a nasty genjutsu. Here it seemed like no one could get the drop on you."

Sasuke made a face. "Sakura was always the one who was better at genjutsu. And I've been trying to avoid using my Sharingan. Anyway, I thought the attack was a physical one against Kouki. I thought I was protecting him."

"You left nothing for protecting yourself."

Sasuke tsked. He had been half way to lighting up a chidori when he got stuck. That was not nothing.

"Sakura said you were different and implied you might come back this time. But no one really knew what that meant. She might have just been seeing what she wanted to."

Sasuke kept his face bland at the implication that his change wasn't good. "You haven't changed at all."

"Oh?"

Sasuke was quiet, eyes pegged on Naruto. In all honestly he couldn't say anything about Kakashi one way or the other but talk of people changing was beginning to wear him out. Or maybe he was tired of explaining himself.

Kakashi "hm'd" softly and put a hand into his hip pouch.

Sasuke glanced at him and quickly looked away. "I'm surprised you didn't pull out your book sooner."

For a moment Kakashi didn't move. Then he slipped his empty hand from his pouch. "I was trying not to be rude."

"You're trying to see if I'm still your enemy."

Kakashi sighed. "Sasuke, I think it's fair to say we're both on completely new and unknown ground."

Sasuke looked at him and narrowed his eyes.

"The last time I saw you with Sakura, you were about to kill her. But the last time I saw you at all, you were battling Naruto. I have to admit, Sasuke, you didn't look like you were truly trying to kill him, only to test your strength."

"Hn."

"That was a while ago. Sakura is an adult now-"

"You'll never trust her opinion of me."

Kakashi looked impatient. "Sakura has had to make hard choices; I don't expect her to be a naive fool now. At any rate, she has my Hokage's respect, and you have his trust."

"Hn." Kakashi respected Naruto as well. Sasuke returned his attention to the Iwa camp below.

Kakashi looked below as well. "Did you know you have a certain look on your face? I saw it once or twice back then when you were a kid. When you were trying not to admit how jealous you felt. Naruto worked for everything he has. He got the acknowledgment he always wanted but it came with many challenges. I admire his attempt to change Konoha, but he's had to recognize that he can't do it alone."

"I just wanted to be left alone."

Kakashi grunted. "Didn't I tell you? The nail that sticks its head up will get hammered down."

"Hn." Sasuke recognized that everything he said to Kakashi was an attempt to push him away. But Kakashi wouldn't go. Below Touru pointed at Sakura's tent and gave instructions to an underling. The underling visibly quivered and shook his head. Touru pointed vigorously and finally the underling walked into the tent, albeit while dragging his feet.

"Captain Touru honestly thought Sakura would be easier to control than you."

"Do you think I'm easy to control?"

Kakashi tsked. "You used to be, for the people who dared." Then he turned to Sasuke, there was a smile in his voice. "But you've grown up a little bit. You're not led around so much by your anger and hatred. It's good to see, truly."

"So, you've come up here to see what does control me. You're not sure of my intentions."

"On the contrary. I am certain you are uncertain about your intentions."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Kakashi was always cagey, even when he was trying to say something directly. Largely because what he was usually trying _not_ to say was the honest truth.

"Mmh. You want to do whatever is necessary to protect those you care about. That's a good idea, as far as I'm concerned. But you're finally experienced enough and wise enough to see that the methods you often choose are more destructive than you ever meant."

Sasuke curled his hands into fists. He wanted to be angry but he could only remember Meiko's lifeless face and the despair that he had carried for years. Trying to think of anything else only brought to mind turning over Sakura's unconscious body.

Kakashi continued to speak. "I taught Naruto and now I follow him because I believe in him. A long time ago I thought I couldn't be trusted, every time I tried to do what I thought was the right thing I hurt more people I cared about. Relying on my comrades is how I finally stopped being such a disaster."

Sasuke drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. He glanced at Kakashi. "You don't want me to hurt them."

Kakashi cleared his throat. "I would like that, yes. But they're adults. And as hard as it may be to understand this, Sasuke, I don't want you to be in pain either. You set yourself apart out of habit and you don't have to."

"You want me to go with Naruto."

Kakashi chuckled. "The truth is, I don't know. Sometimes believing in him means going along with crazy stunts that don't make any damned sense." Kakashi caught Sasuke's eye, making the younger man look away quickly. "But I think I see a little of what Naruto is thinking. Sometimes we shinobi get so caught up in what we think we need and want we forget about the land and the people of our countries who have nothing to do with our quarrels."

"Hn." That was exactly what Sasuke had seen for the last eight years.

"That's why Naruto wants you at his side, you know. Because you won't forget. And you won't let Naruto or anyone else forget. That kind of insight is absolutely necessary for diplomacy."

Sasuke's mouth twitched on the verge of a frown. "There you go again, acting like my teacher, trying to give me advice."

"Can you blame me? Let me tell you a story, once long ago I had a student. I watched him struggle to grow up and I thought it was my job to help him. But the way I did it... my mistakes limited him in a way for a long time."

"Your mistakes?"

"Even though he and I were alike in many ways, I underestimated the depth of his pride. And frankly, I took him to be a little bit smarter than he was. A better teacher than me would have shown him how much more powerful he was with teammates. In the end I never managed to teach him a lesson that took me entirely too long to learn myself. At this point, all I can really do is apologize, and hope he forgives me one day."

Sasuke blinked at that. He hadn't expected such words from Kakashi. He would have never even considered it.

"Well..." Kakashi continued in his laconic tone that carried just a touch of sarcasm. "If I had realized teaching would be this much of a pain in the butt I never would have agreed to it."

Sasuke snorted. Team 7 had turned out to be some handful, hadn't they? He looked at Kakashi and considered his words. He said, "thank you."

Kakashi started. He hadn't expected those words himself. "Hm?"

"I remembered some of your lessons." Sasuke spoke haltingly. Praising others did not come naturally to him. "They helped me sometimes. And..." He looked at the tent where Sakura was held. The underling stepped out with a perfectly white face and walked away as in a daze. Sasuke swallowed. "I would have killed her back then. I know I would have. You and Naruto stopped me. Thank you."

Warmth came into Kakashi's face. Then he narrowed his eye and gave Sasuke a look loaded with suspicion. "You aren't going to do anything foolish, are you?"

Sasuke smirked. His old teacher should know better than that.

"Hm. I've seen tons of guys like you, about to go off and do something really stupid to impress a girl."

Sasuke tsked. That wasn't worthy of a response. He turned and leapt through the branches. Behind him he heard Kakashi groan, "I am getting too old for this shit."

-傷-

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	13. Chapter 13

Sakura sighed and stretched up her shoulders as high as she could, trying to ease the ache in her back as much as possible. She had been sitting for hours, it seemed and before that lying down. She couldn't properly stand in her cage and she couldn't find any other options. But worse than the grind on her joints was the grind of boredom.

When she had given herself up it had never crossed her mind that she would have to sit still, doing absolutely nothing, until Naruto finally showed up with the treaty. It was boring as hell.

There were a pair of guards sitting on opposite sides of her. They were deep in meditation to keep a seal on her manacles. They had never even made eye contact with her, let alone said a single word.

At least the sun had gone down now and they brought her dinner. Meals were the only break in the monotony. Of course, she did have to work out how to lift her food to her mouth with the manacles they had put on her. None of them could even put them on, they'd had to order her to lay her wrists over a scroll so the manacles could be summoned and clapped on her without lifting them.

It had pleased her unreasonably to watch their jaws drop open as she lifted the things in order to eat and drink. They thought they would get the amusement of watching her being forced to put her mouth to her plate. Sakura worked to hide how awkward it was to lift the chopsticks to her mouth and bite the large pieces of pork. They had refused to give her a knife. She huffed. As if she couldn't kill someone with the chopsticks if she really needed to.

"Hmph." Sakura sighed once more.

She kept her mind on that moment when Naruto appeared. He had better hurry. The idiot Iwa captain had sent some chunin who practically peed his pants trying to tell her that they were crossing the river into Earth country. The boy's teeth had chattered together as he explained the charges against her and that she would be put in front of a judge.

As far as she could tell they would leave at some point early the next day. Depending on the direction they chose it could take as little as six hours to reach a village big enough with a magistrate to convene a trial against her. And she was sure they would do that as quickly as possible. It would probably take no time at all to find her guilty. Sakura shut her eyes tight.

It wasn't bad enough she was stuck in a cage better fit for a wild animal with two shinobi in meditation poses at either side maintaining a seal on the cage, it wasn't disturbing enough that the captain was clearly not the sharpest kunai in the holster, it wasn't annoying enough to be insulted with manacles that would be heavy to anyone else, and the other little humiliations they put on her... but knowing that she was going to be dragged away from her own home country made her nerves even more pronounced.

Sakura had to face the fact that she had killed again. And without Sasuke to distract her she couldn't stop the thought that she didn't need to. She could have stopped those two without lethal means. She could have avoided fighting entirely if she had just been slightly more patient. In fact, she was forced to admit to herself, she had gone in picking a fight, hadn't she?

She swallowed. She had to believe that wasn't the whole of it. Otherwise she was no better than the murderer the Iwa accused her of being. She had to get Sasuke out of there.

Sakura felt the old coldness in her heart and shivered. She did what was necessary. Even if, in the end, it meant she took Sasuke's place as Iwa's subject for interrogation. There was no doubt in her mind that they would try to pry secrets from her. Her intel on Konoha would be more recent than Sasuke's.

Sakura shifted restlessly. They wouldn't be gentle. They knew she could take down a strong genjutsu type. Could she resist a sensory type rooting around in her mind? What if they figured out how to nullify her strength and ended up physically torturing her? If it were her, she would combine the two. Whatever they did they would want to work fast before the case against her was thrown out on the basis of it having been Fire territory all along.

...And the circle of thoughts came back around to Sakura's callous killing of the two Iwa shinobi two days earlier. She yelled at herself once more... She was such a-

A sharp breeze fluttered the tent flap, and faster than Sakura could really process it, Sasuke stood in front of one meditating shinobi and then in front of the other. They had barely the time to turn to look at him and then their presence seemed to slip away.

Sakura eyed Sasuke. His Sharingan faded to black. "Genjutsu?" She said softly.

"Aa."

She looked down at her manacles but the seal was still in place. She tsked.

She looked back at Sasuke as he stood on just the other side of the bars staring back at her. Her heart rate had already ticked up and it went up again when she spied a holster strapped to his leg.

Sasuke looked at the lock on the cage and at the manacles weighing Sakura's wrists to the floor of her cage.

Sakura could feel the little hairs on her neck stand up. She had forced herself to think about anything but Sasuke, anything at all but that kiss. It was... it was too much. But here he was and...

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice was hushed.

Her heart stopped.

"Do you want me to get you out?"

Sakura was so surprised she gave a sort of gasping chuckle, before covering it with a cough. It was best if they were quiet.

"Is that funny?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly but there was still much on his face that Sakura couldn't read.

"No. I just didn't expect you would ask that. But if you busted me out of the cage I would still have to run with the manacles." She lifted them to show the seal over the thick links. "If I break them this seal will knock me out immediately. I think even if I don't, if one of those two wanted to they could activate the jutsu." She made a face. It was a clunky plan on the part of the Iwa captain but it left too many unknowns for her to want to take any chances.

"They weren't exactly clear on whether I'd be knocked out for a minute or a week or what and I don't think you can carry me out of here as quietly as you got in."

"Hn." Sasuke had a rebellious look on his face. "You're underestimating me."

She smirked. Then the look faded from his face and he looked into her eyes again. "I'll get you free if you ask me to."

More goosebumps. Sakura's stomach felt funny. Had he...? Was he...? "Are you serious?"

Sasuke was silent a moment, then, "Aa."

Sakura's breath was short. She didn't want to breathe. She didn't want to move. What if she was dreaming?

Sasuke took a step forward and put a hand to one of the bars, "If-" He fell silent as they heard footsteps come toward the tent and then pass on by.

It gave Sakura enough room to think. She smiled and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "Thank you, but no. If I really wanted to get out I would have done that already. I haven't because I want to give Naruto the chance to come through the with treaty." She scooted closer to the bars. "If I busted out I would be spitting in his face and in Konoha's."

"Hn." Sasuke reached down through the bars and lay his hand on hers. "They let you end up here."

There was a faint insult in his words. Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated on the warmth on her hand. "I did it for them. And for you, if you'll recall."

Sasuke spoke again. There was a smile in his quiet voice. "Kakashi said you don't like accepting help from anyone."

Sakura snickered quietly. "I hope he doesn't know you're here."

Sasuke shrugged. "Naruto said he was counting on your help with the Earth daimyo. He said the daimyo wants some other piece of land that borders Fire and Wind and if there was another week of negotiation he'd get it."

Sakura felt her heart plummet. "The Fuyu Marshes. Damn. Dammit." She tipped her head until it rested on the bars. She had really screwed up, hadn't she? "Fuck. That area is probably even more important to Konoha than this river, which is why that jerk Hidesaburo wants it so bad. Losing it would hurt our relations with Suna."

"I've been assuming the Iwa are going to take you into Earth country for trial tomorrow."

"Yeah, that's what I was told. They cross the river all the time. I think they're waiting for a group of high level shinobi to come here tonight with instructions from their Tsutchikage. Damn. As long as I'm here Hidesaburo - the Tsutchikage - can keep Naruto busy while his daimyo keeps pestering the Fire Country daimyo for the Marshes." Sakura silently berated herself as stubborn, violent fool. Her idiocy was going to cost Konoha dearly.

Sasuke cleared his throat. "Do you still want to stay here?"

Sakura's lip curved in a bitter smile. "I'm committed now. I've already broken enough orders to face some serious consequences when I get home. I can't just break my word on top of everything else."

"Hn. Home." Sasuke hand stiffened on hers.

"Yeah, home. Sasuke, Konoha is the only home I've ever had." Sakura wondered if Sasuke would invite her to travel with him. It hurt to think of it. Please don't ask me to go with you, she silently pleaded. Please don't break my heart again.

Sasuke studied her face. Sakura wondered if he could read her torn feelings in her eyes. "Naruto asked me to go with him in your place. He seems to think I could be some kind of diplomat."

There was a lightness in his voice like he still was amazed by the idea. Well it _was_ completely insane. "You?" Sakura blinked. Then she pressed her lips together to keep from bursting into laughter.

A faint smile slipped over his lips before they returned to a frown. "He's still an idiot."

Sakura grunted. "Well... sometimes. But...not always. Did he tell you why he thought that?"

Sasuke hitched and then smirked. "He said not to tell you, but apparently we scare people into acting."

Sakura soured instantly. Of course Naruto would be completely tactless.

"Kakashi said I knew about life among common people, and the diplomats needed to remember that." He grunted. "But Kakashi isn't sure that's a good idea. He called it a crazy stunt."

That made some kind of sense. For just the briefest of moments she could see what Naruto was trying to do. And it kept alive her plan of making Sasuke take a stand. "Did you come here to decide if you'll go?"

"Hn." Sasuke withdrew his hand.

Sakura almost panicked and tried to think of something to say to bring him back.

Sasuke spoke first. "I was thinking it over and realized you haven't changed your bandages today." Sasuke opened his hip holster and began pulling out supplies. She recognized them as the ones that came from Genmei.

Sakura frowned at the change of subject. She hadn't gotten to change her bandages, she had been deprived of her tools and weapons immediately and she didn't want to tell the Iwa that she was sporting a nasty injury and still at less than 100% chakra.

"You can change your bandages now." Sasuke looked at her, some mystery in the back of his eyes.

Sakura's jaw twitched.

"Hn."

Sakura lifted her manacles. "I can't really do it with these on." She held them out to Sasuke. He frowned and put his hand under one of them. Sakura smirked and relaxed her hold so he could take more of the weight.

Sasuke hitched and eyes went wide in surprise as he almost dropped them before Sakura lifted them again. Shock was written plainly on his face.

Sakura's smirk deepened. "Turns out I am super strong."

"What are...?"

"As far as I can understand they've been treated with metal alloys that Iwa Earth style specialists developed. The matter is denser than any naturally-occurring material, so it's heavier too." Sakura gave an irritated sigh. "It's just that as long as I don't break them I can't make hand signs or do other complicated things."

She happened to look up at Sasuke and saw a simple little smile lifting his face as he looked back at her. It stopped her irritation completely as she felt herself blushing and smiling back awkwardly.

"It's pretty cool that you can lift it like it's paper."

Sakura giggled. "It's a bit heavier than paper. I can still tell the difference. And I have to use chakra to move it. After a few hours it could be a problem." Sakura sighed. "I'd have a hard time trying to take off this kimono, and I couldn't even change my bandages."

"You would have to trust me." Sasuke's voice was so low Sakura wasn't entirely sure she heard him.

"Hmm?"

"If you trust me." He repeated slightly louder. "I could do it. Just lift your arms."

The blush that had been receding came back full force and swept over her neck and upper chest. Wouldn't that...? But of course he had already...? But even so...!

Sasuke looked directly into her eyes. His expression was carefully blank.

Sakura swallowed. It was not like Sasuke to try to angle for a peek. He had treated her wound when it was still fresh. For heaven's sake he had tossed the kimono that she now wore to her so she would cover up! But he had also teased her about being naked at the hot water pools.

Sasuke chuckled at the look on her face and shook his head. "I swear I only mean to help you. I promise I won't do anything unnecessary. Or look anywhere unnecessary, either."

"Sa-sasuke..." No she still couldn't ask him. She would never forget the maddening thrill of his lips against hers.

Sasuke lifted a hand to her hair and gently pushed it behind her ear. "I swear to you, Sakura, until you can stand on your own feet without being obligated to anyone else, I won't do anything other than help you." He let his thumb slip along her jaw before pulling his hand back to his side of the bars.

Sakura realized there had been a look on his face that... it was just like the one he wore right before the Iwa pulled her away. But now that look was put away. Now he was a man who wanted her trust, with a look on his face of...

Sakura gasped as she made the realization - it was friendship.

Sakura gave him a shy smile and lifted her arms. She sat up on her knees and rested her hands on the bars where they met the roof of the cage. I'll have to see this all the way through now, she thought. If that's the only way to get him to do more than help me.

"Hn." Sasuke locked eyes with her while his hands worked deftly. Cool air met her chest and slight draft went up her back. Sasuke picked up a knife from his supplies, a very small boning knife with a narrow blade.

Sakura looked steadily back at Sasuke. She only felt light steady touches and then the wraps were coming loose from around her midsection. They stuck slightly in one corner but Sasuke massaged them free.

Sakura tried very hard not to think about what else his hands could do with so much access to her bare skin. She tried very hard not to let it show where her mind kept going. She tried so very, very hard to keep from thinking about anything other than their friendship as she looked at Sasuke but his eyes were so beautiful, his lips were so full...

Finally she wrenched her head to the side and buried her face in her arm. She could feel Sasuke's fingers move faintly over the delicate new skin of her wound.

Sasuke was moving and she hazarded a peek - he knelt down to look more closely at the wound. And then she felt his breath move over her belly.

With a light squeak she jumped away and managed to bang her head on the roof. She swallowed her curses and bit her tongue to keep from crying out.

Sasuke had stopped moving and looked up at her expectantly.

She swallowed yet again. "Sorry," she whispered. "Keep going."

"Hn." Sasuke pulled out a few more items and looked at her again. "I need you a little closer."

Sakura hitched and slowly moved back to the bars. Could she keep better control over herself?

Sasuke sighed. "I've been wondering something."

Sakura blinked and stopped moving. What could it possibly be?

"You started to tell me about a difficult mission this morning. I want to know more about it."

"Oh..." Sakura hadn't been expecting that. The day had been so long and so full of other unexpected events she hadn't spared a thought for an incomplete story. She resumed moving back toward Sasuke as she pondered it.

When she was back into position he patted an antiseptic lotion on with a cotton pad. It felt cool and slightly tingly. From the scent there was aloe vera mixed in and she imagined it may contain ground lichens as well.

"What do you want to know?" Sakura recalled a loud, dusty mess, with low visibility due to frequent eruptions. She let her eyes stare forward, over Sasuke's head, without seeing anything. Perhaps it wasn't the worst day of her life, but it was in the running.

"I don't get how Shikamaru and Kiba were caught."

She recalled her story and sighed. "I still think it's my fault that Shikamaru and then Kiba were taken down. But they don't agree with me. We knew the enemy had a poison user or two so I had a dozen antidotes ready to go. But they were effective at splitting us up and spraying the area with airborne poison. By the time I got to the position where I saw them last Shikamaru, Kiba and even Akamaru had been dragged away."

Sakura rubbed her face on her upper arm. "Hinata wanted to rescue them. But I could hear explosions from the giant ninja tool attacking the other squads. I wanted to complete the mission but I froze for a second." She glanced down at Sasuke. He looked up at her for a moment. "Of course I could hear Kakashi-sensei saying that abandoning teammates makes a person lower than scum. But what could I do? My _other _teammates were also in trouble.

"So Hinata and I agreed to split up." Sakura bit her lip. "And I went for the tower."

"What did you do?" Sasuke returned his attention finishing wrapping the bandages around Sakura's torso.

"I killed a lot of people." She whispered.

She told Sasuke how she used exploding tags to clear a way, leaping over clumps of flesh and groaning, mangled bodies. She caught kunai in midair without really even knowing what she was doing and hurled them back at their senders. When someone managed to step into her path too close for a paper bomb, she quickly parried the kunoichi's blade with her long knife and then slashed her throat without a second thought.

At the tower she joined Rock Lee and Tenten. Lee was hurt so Tenten defended them while she patched up Lee. They let her know that Shino and Sai's team had been stymied by the weapon and it was unknown how they fared.

Up close Sakura could see that the tower was huge, intentionally built for excellent defense. Charging meant exposing themselves while midrange fighters attacked. The monolith of stone ignored paper bomb explosions. There seemed no way they could fight their way to the top of the tower to try to take control of the tool. Meanwhile, the shinobi manning the tool kept firing volleys into the forest, presumably against Shino's team.

"Hn." Sasuke interrupted her.

"Huh?"

"I wanted to show you something."

Sakura blinked and made a confused face. Sasuke had carefully laid a patch of bandages over the medicated wound and wrapped gauze over it to keep it in place. "What is it?"

"Here," he traced a finger over her solar plexus. Sakura could see ink on the bandage.

"A seal?"

"Aa. If something goes wrong and you need hands that aren't in some unnatural manacles put your chakra into this. It'll transport me no matter where I am, unless I'm dead."

Sakura pressed her lips together to try to keep from smiling so hard her mouth might split open. Tears threatened in her eyes. If she was merely dreaming this new, thoughtful Sasuke, she never wanted to wake up. Of course, once she could speak she had to tease him. "You got that idea from Naruto."

Sasuke hitched. "Tsch." There was a slight blush on his cheeks.

Sakura allowed a small, pleased smile to settle on her face. "Well, even his jutsu isn't the same as the one the Fourth Hokage used; yours is closer, I think. And thank you, Sasuke, I really appreciate it."

"It will work only as long as the seal stays intact so if something happens to the bandages it won't work. And it'll only work once." He shrugged. "Just to be sure I want to put another layer of bandages over it."

"Okay." Sakura resumed her story. Between the three of them they finally agreed and proceeded on a plan. Rock Lee charged forward, neatly dodging jutsu's aimed at him. Sakura pegged as close to his shadow as possible. Tenten hung back and cleared the air of any weapons aimed at them.

At the last possible second Rock Lee threw himself to the side and Sakura reared up, pressed a foot hard into the ground and with a cry drove her fist into a key point in the wall.

It wasn't just about her fist, of course. She poured an extraordinary amount of chakra into the wall, and she sent it with a mission of finding and disrupting every point of pressure and every tension joint until the tower was only so many tons of granite particles suspended in space and rapidly giving way to gravity.

Rock Lee sprang up and carried her out of the way of the crumbling tower. Sakura watched over his shoulder as shinobi tried to flee what was once a fortress but was now their biggest threat.

The three of them had to run a ways away before they felt safe to stop. While they were running Sakura has spied a flare sailing into the sky. She remembered it was Hinata's signal so she could find her and the members of the team who had been taken prisoner.

Sakura's voice faded out. She could feel Sasuke tugging the bandages as he looped the final knot. He had expertly tucked the boning knife into the wraps. It wouldn't be simple but if she was desperate enough she could pull it free and have a small, sharp weapon in her hand.

She smiled at him.

Sasuke smirked and pulled her kimono shut, careful to duplicate the folds that had been in it before so it would close neatly around her smaller frame.

"You're still not sure if you're going with Naruto?"

Sasuke glanced at her, a little surprised by the question.

"I'll go on with the story in a minute, just... You're thinking about it, aren't you?"

Sasuke held her kimono closed with his hands. He didn't look her in the eye for a moment. "Even you think it's laughable."

"I think you would know exactly what to say to those fools. What I find funny is imagining how the elders' heads will explode if they see you standing next to Naruto."

He looked at her then, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Are you sure you don't want to get out of there and come see for yourself?"

Sakura grinned. "I wish I could, but that would mess up everything. So you'll just have to go and come back and tell me all about it."

"Hn." Sasuke pulled the ends of the obi that shut the kimono. "You and Naruto are way more sure of this than I am. I can't even believe I'm taking the idea seriously."

"It's because you're finally running toward something, instead of away."

The look on Sasuke's face became more serious, slightly aggravated. "I know your plan, Sakura. You still want to make me stand up for something. I know you were communicating with Naruto through Katsuya, did you work this out with him?"

Sakura started, she almost pulled back but Sasuke still held onto her kimono, black eyes boring into hers. She longed to reach out to him. "I didn't know Naruto wanted me to join him at the daimyo's palace, and I never would have thought he'd want to take you there. But please, hear me out! The future is going to come one way or the other, Sasuke. Konoha's next generation is already on its way. I **will** eventually get back home, and when I do I'll deliver Hinata's baby. This treaty is going to be part of that future. And this is your chance to take part, to build the future that **you** think is right."

Sasuke sighed. He pressed his head against the bars and stared at his hands as they finished knotting Sakura's obi. "You just won't stop. You don't-"

Sakura had moved softly but quickly and pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth.

Sasuke pulled back in surprise, hauling his arms through the bars and blinking at her.

She tried to give him a smirk but the melancholy in her heart wouldn't let her achieve it. "I didn't make any promises."

Sasuke closed his eyes and his arms fell to his sides and for a moment he was the cold, beautiful bastard Sakura had always known. Then he spoke, "So you do have feelings for me."

"Hmm." Sakura suddenly felt weary. "Yeah, but I feel a lot of things, Sasuke. I feel coldness most of the time. And a huge amount of protectiveness for the people I care about. And for you?" She shook her head and sat back. She set her manacled wrists on the floor of the cage. If she were wise she would have never said anything but she couldn't stop now.

"I'm still really, really mad at you."

Sasuke silently stared at her. She shrugged. It was true. She wanted to be with him every way possible. And she wanted to punch him into next week. She wanted to lay down and cry and, dammit all, she really wanted to let him rescue her.

"And I still lo..." Sakura wanted to finish the sentence. She wanted to say the words, even if it meant he abandoned her yet again. But her sad, tired heart couldn't bear it and her breath wouldn't support it. She tried again, "I am still in-"

"Don't." Whispered Sasuke. "Don't say it."

She looked up at him. She realized he was tense, his arms stiff and he was frowning, but it wasn't a frown for her. She hated herself for not having the courage to ask him how he felt about her.

"I don't deserve it, Sakura." His head tipped down so his hair covered his eyes. "No matter what happens, I swear tomorrow I will find you and get you free. They won't make you suffer for a second, I swear-"

"Sh!" Sakura heard Touru talking with someone as he neared the tent.

In the blink of an eye Sasuke had disappeared. In another moment the guards on either side of the cage each slowly toppled over as if he had fallen asleep. And then Touru came in with another Iwa shinobi.

"Hey there," Sakura called to him. "I guess I'm not much fun to babysit."

"Wake up, you idiots!" Ordered Touru. He walked over to one and prodded him sharply with a toe.

"Aw, let him rest. It's so tough guarding someone who already said she wasn't going to run."

The kunoichi who had entered with Touru studied her and shot confused glances at her captain. Sakura studied her. Where Touru was average height with spiky brown hair, the woman was statuesque with fiery red hair that hung in spirals. Sakura tried to remember if she had seen the woman in a Konoha bingo book.

The guards began to rouse, groaning and Sakura rolled her eyes as Touru screamed at the guards for falling asleep. It seemed neither could understand how he had passed out.

Finally the kunoichi stepped forward and asked for a chance. She made several hand signs and laid two fingers on the forehead of one of the guards. After a couple seconds she let go. "His chakra was altered slightly. It's getting back to normal."

She walked to the other guard and repeated the process. "Same here."

Both she and Touru looked at Sakura. "What did you do to them, Haruno? Put them under a genjutsu?"

"Wouldn't that be something?" She sneered at him. "A genjutsu when I can't mold chakra."

Touru looked back at her with a sneer of his own. "We'll just find out, won't we? This is Hisako. She's very good at interrogation because she always knows when someone is lying or when their chakra is active."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "You have no right to interrogate me."

"Oh don't worry, Haruno, we're not going to look for any deep Konoha secrets. We just want to know more about your altercation with Kishi and Toshi. And now that it's come up, if you did something to these idiots." Touru gestured to her guards.

Sakura snarled quietly and moved to the back of the cage. "You won't touch me," she hissed. "If one hand comes into this cage I'll consider it an attack and break every bone in it!" She held her manacled hands aloft to prove it wouldn't even be difficult.

"You don't understand," spoke the woman. Blue eyes pierced her own. "I don't have to touch you to see if you believe the things you are saying. I can get inside your head just fine from here."

Sakura frowned. Had the Iwa figured out the Yamanaka hidden jutsu? She struggled to hide how nervous she felt. A dim memory of a page in a bingo book floated up in Sakura's mind, an Iwa shinobi named Hisako Yamaguchi, tall with red hair. There weren't many details, only that she was an extremely talented intelligence operative. There was a modest bounty on her head - a payday far lower than Sakura's own.

"It would be better for you if you answered my questions honestly, but even if you don't say a word I will learn a lot."

Sakura wanted to stare down Hisako but it would take just one good question from her and everything would fall apart. Sakura resolved to hold still and remain silent. She stared at her hands, weighed down against the cage floor.

"Did you and the Uchiha plan to fight Kishi and Toshi together?"

Sakura couldn't help her lip twitch, but she said nothing.

"No? Very well. Did you know the Uchiha was in this area?"

Sakura fought to keep her breath steady.

"Apparently not. Have you been in contact with the Uchiha since the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi war?"

Sakura could feel tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. This evil bitch had no idea what she was digging at.

"That seems like a no, Captain Touru. They weren't collaborating."

"Hm. Damn, that would have made things interesting."

While they were conferring Sakura blinked away her tears and tried to think things through carefully. Obviously the woman was a sensory type but she wasn't hunting directly through Sakura's mind like the Yamanaka secret mind jutsu. Was Hisako reading her body language? Sakura was careful not to move.

She patiently went through the possibilities she had studied - if her tells weren't in her body and Hisako wasn't in her mind... then it had to be her spirit, or rather her aura. Yes, some jutsus that sensory types practiced could read chakra auras and detect emotional state as well as surface thoughts.

Touru and Hisako turned back to her and Sakura's mind raced to come up with a counter strategy.

"Do you know what happened to make the guards fall asleep at the same time?"

Sakura stared placidly at her hands. Sasuke happened, she thought. Damn, I have to think about something else.

"Yes, you do. Did you have something to do with it?"

Sasuke came to see me... There was something in that line of thinking. She closed her eyes and let her breath even out.

"So you did. Don't even think you can hide just because you closed your eyes. Was it your jutsu that knocked them out?"

Sakura recalled Sasuke's black eyes. She pictured them staring back at her, waiting for her to say whether or not she wanted to leave with him.

"No..? Very well, do you know exactly what caused this?"

Sakura thought hard about Sasuke. About his hand resting on hers. About how he wanted her trust. About his breath on her.

Hisako hummed and muttered to herself. "Someone you work with? A member of your team snuck in? Who? Kakashi Hatake, perhaps?"

Sakura moved as much of her thought and feeling into remembering Sasuke's lips as she could bear. Read _this_, you hag! She thought.

"Damn." Hisako muttered. "She's hiding something. Maybe it was..." Hisako's voice fell away for a moment. "Touru, this would be easier if we could be more...firm."

Sakura concentrated. Sasuke's hand on her waist...

"No, not yet. When she's found guilty we can apply all the force you want."

Sakura held onto a small amount of awareness while she dove deep into her memory of Sasuke holding her.

The barest movement of air made Sakura's eyes pop open and reflexes went into action before her mind registered that Hisako had gone around the cage to reached out to Sakura's head. Now Sakura had her arm hauled as far into the cage as it could go, twisting the hand so the wrist threatened to break.

"WHAT DID I SAY?!" She hollered. "WHAT DID I FUCKING SAY?"

The kunoichi screamed in agony. Sakura snarled at her and flicked the hand. She heard a bone pop. Hisako's scream went higher in pitch.

"Stop it! Stop it!" shouted Touru. Out of the corner of her eye Sakura saw Iwa shinobi racing into the tent, weapons drawn.

She turned, about to pull further on Hisako's arm to try to dislocate it when she saw one of the silent guards staring at her. He moved his hand and a bluish white flash seemed to leap from her manacles and directly between her eyes.

She fell back and onto her side, losing her grip on the kunoichi's arm. She could only see that blue-white even though she could hear everyone shouting. Hisako still screamed in pain.

In a few seconds the sounds blurred together to obnoxious thunder. White in her vision dimmed and faded through gray to black. The last thing she knew was her heart beating erratically, praying that Sasuke was well on his way from the camp, and still holding onto the treasure of his kiss.

-傷-


End file.
